Suicide
by vampiregir101
Summary: Odin sentences Loki to a mortal lifetime on Earth, helping sort out the damage he caused, and basically doing good. SHIELD doesnt trust him, so he has to live in Stark Tower, with the Avengers. Eventual Frostiron. No one commits suicide, by the way. It'll become obvious about half way through why I called it that. Rated M because its just easier to assume the worst.
1. Chapter 1

"Loki Odinson -" Odin was cut off by Loki's cruel laugh, accompanied by the most cutting glare he could muster up when faced with the Allfather, about to give him a sentence for his crimes against Midgard. Odin cleared his throat and started again.  
"Loki Laufeyson, your actions on Midgard are unforgivable. However, even though you were not born from my blood, you are my son, and it would be unfair of me to treat you differently to Thor. So I will strip you of all but the most basic powers, and banish you to Midgard. You are to help them clean up the mess you created and rebuild their cities."  
"You expect them to allow that? Those foolish creatures would wage war with Asgard before letting me live there."  
"Thor will go with you and explain everything. He will be responsible for you."  
"But, Allfather, I -"  
"My word is final." Odin barked, before having Thor lead Loki out of the courtroom.  
"Why are you so accepting of this, Thor?" Loki asked wearily.  
"It could have been much worse, brother. You could have been executed, or permanently imprisoned, or transformed or... Odin has been very merciful today, can't you see that?" Thor pleaded, unfastening Loki's handcuff's and letting him into his cell. Loki sat on his bed.  
"I suppose." He said begrudgingly, not looking at Thor.  
"I must go contact the Avengers and tell them the news. They will not be happy about this, I am sure, but they will grow to accept you."  
"Hurry back." Loki drawled sarcastically.

Thor flew across the room and smashed through the wall. He cried out in pain and then scrambled backwards as the Hulk landed mere yards away from his feet. He had just told the Avengers what had happened, and Bruce had Hulked out. Suddenly Natasha was on the Hulk's shoulders, her legs wrapped around his neck, injecting a tranquilizer into him. She jumped off as he swayed slightly then collapsed. Tony helped Thor up, then sucker punched him, sending him reeling again.  
"What the fuck, Thundercat! Loki kills hundreds of people and brings an alien army to Earth and he gets off with a little community service?" Tony yelled. Thor got to his feet and stepped away from Tony, wanting to hit him back, but knowing that if he did, it would only makes things bad for him and Loki.  
"It was not my decision, Man of Iron. And when Loki has redeemed himself in the eyes of you Midgardians, he will undoubtedly be brought back to Asgard for further punishment."  
"So, what, this is just to keep things from being awkward between Earth and Asgard?" Natasha asked.  
"In a manner of speaking, yes."  
"When will he get here and how long will he be here for?" Clint asked, making plans to buy several more bows for when Loki came.  
"I do not know."  
"Where is he supposed to stay? I mean, prison would sort of get in the way of the helping rebuild the city thing, but we can't trust him enough to let him live on his own, can we?" Natasha was trying to point out every flaw in the plan, in an attempt to make Thor reconsider.  
"That is an excellent point, my lady. It would have to be somewhere accessible to all the Avengers..." Thor mused, thinking of possibilities.  
"Reindeer Games can stay with us in Stark Tower. JARVIS can track him if he tries to escape and he'd be surrounded by super heros, so I doubt he'd try any of his hocus pocus stuff." Tony reasoned.  
"Actually, my brother's powers have been limited to the bare essentials - healing and shield spells and purely defensive charms. And anything that will help him sort out Manhattan. And anything that is an especially easy spell."  
"Maybe you should have told that the Grinch over there." Tony nodded his head towards the Hulk, who was slowly getting smaller, and less green.  
"Grinch?" Clint raised an eyebrow.  
"You know, cos he's green." Tony grinned. Everyone rolled their eyes.


	2. Chapter 2

Two weeks later, the Avengers were stood in what served as the living room of Stark Tower, awaiting Thor and Loki's arrival. Tony was wearing the Iron Man suit, Clint's bow was at his side, Natasha was wearing knuckle dusters and she had knives tucked into her boots, and everyone had been supplied with Hulk-strength tranquilizers. Just in case. When the storm started, they all tensed. The lights flickered out, and a resounding bang informed them that Thor and Loki had arrived.  
"Why didn't we wait for them on the roof?" Tony asked as he went to escort them down.  
"Do the words "struck by lightning" mean nothing to you?" Clint called after him. Tony rolled his eyes and let himself out onto the landing pad.  
"Hey Thundercat! Hi Reindeer Games." He greeted them, before tripped in the little crater they had made when they landed. He rolled onto his back and glared at them from the floor.  
"You couldn't land anywhere else?" He asked. Thor lifted him onto his feet.  
"Apologies, Man of Iron, but this seemed the best place."  
"Next time, land in an uninhabited area and we'll send a helicopter for you." Tony muttered, brushing himself off. Thor nodded, and Loki smirked. Tony simply rolled his eyes and reminded himself that Loki had gotten Hulk'd.  
"Has Thor told you about the conditions?" Tony asked.  
"I am to live in the residence of the Avengers, I have a curfew and I'm not allowed out at all without either an Avenger going with me or having a tracking device shackled to my wrist, I'm not allowed to use magic in Stark Tower, or on a mortal, and there is going to be a camera wired up in my quarters so that everyone knows what I am doing at all times. Correct?"  
"Yeah, that's right. So, umm, after you I guess." He opened the door, nodding for the Asgardians to go in. Loki looked over his shoulder, as though contemplating jumping off the building, before Thor grabbed his wrist and pulled him in.

Surprisingly, Bruce stayed calm. It was Clint who lost it. He took one look at Loki and tossed his bow over his shoulder, tackled him down, and sat on top of him, one hand around his throat, the other punching Loki repeatedly in the face, as hard as he could. Loki was too startled to do his defensive magic and it took both Tony and Thor to pull Clint off him.  
"HE KILLED COULSON! HE KILLED ALL THOSE PEOPLE! HE TOOK AWAY MY FUCKING FREE WILL! LET ME KILL HIM!" Clint screamed, as Tony and Thor held him back. Loki got up, wincing, then he looked at Clint, and grinned.  
"WHAT THE FUCK IS SO FUNNY?" Clint demanded, struggling to get free.  
"I'm just surprised that you are the only one who greeted me in such a fashion." Loki shrugged, wiping the blood away from his mouth.  
"Your room is down the stairs, and across the hall, third on the left. Opposite mine." Tony told him, gesturing with his head to leave. Loki strode across the room, his path curving slightly to avoid being with reaching distance of Bruce, and left. Natasha closed the door behind him and leaned against it. Thor and Tony let go of Clint. He ran across the room and tried to pry the door open but Natasha simply pushed him away.  
"You were being held back and he didn't do anything. He could have easily snapped your neck or stabbed you or something. But he didn't. Just keep that in mind, because the next time you go psychopathic on him, he might not have the same amount of restraint." She told him. He glared at her then walked away, picking up a drink from the bar as he passed it, before throwing himself down on the sofa, sending evil eyes at anyone who looked at him. Tony rolled his eyes and took the Iron Man suit off.  
"I'm gonna go check on him. Make sure he isn't practising turning people into frogs or something." Tony walked out.  
"Clint. I know that in months gone by, he has done wrong by you, but today, he was unarmed and powerless, and he is my brother. You shall not get off this lightly the next time you harm him." Thor growled.


	3. Chapter 3

Tony knocked on Loki's door, and when there was no answer, he wondered if Loki had even found the room. In the space of three seconds, millions of different scenarios flashed through his mind. Loki could have found his way into the lab and could be tampering with the old iron man suits. He could have escaped and be wreaking havoc on downtown New York. He could have found his way into Clint's room and be setting up some elaborate revenge scheme. He could have gone to the kitchen and poisoned everything he could get his hands on. He could have -  
"Who is it?" Loki called out. Tony breathed a sigh of relief.  
"It's Tony."  
"Ah, the Man of Iron. You may enter."  
"Gee, thanks for that privilege." Tony replied sarcastically as he pushed the door open. Loki was laid on the bed, reading. He had a black eye and his lip was cut.  
"Why didn't you use that hocus pocus stuff to heal yourself?" Tony asked, sitting in the arm chair under the window.  
"It's called magic, you know. Not everything needs a stupid nickname. And I have yet to use my powers because Odin took away most of them, and I tire quickly now. I have decided that using them on such a trivial matter would be a waste." Loki sat up, and put the book to one side, watching Tony with a calculating gaze.  
"Why do I feel like you're reading my mind?" Tony asked, shivering.  
"Because I am." Loki replied with an evil grin.  
"WHAT?" Tony screamed. He suddenly felt violated and - Why was Loki laughing?  
"Oh my Nine, that face was priceless! Don't worry though, I never possessed that ability, even before Odin took away my powers."  
"Oh. Right... Can other Asgardians read minds?"  
"The ability exists, but I don't personally know of many that can. I never had the patience for learning such a skill, though it would be helpful. You wouldn't need to ask things and hope to get a truthful answer. You would just know."  
"So what did you want to know? I assume there was something, if you wanted to read my mind."  
"Hmm? Oh, the location of the keys to the airbase would be helpful. Failing that, the world's nuclear missile codes."  
"The fuck? You mean you're still trying to take over the world?"  
"It was a joke. Lighten up, Stark. I've learned my lesson. World domination doesn't work. Ever. No matter what realm you're in, people will always set aside their differences to defend their home world."  
"So no more super villany stuff?"  
"At least not on Midgard."  
"Fair enough."  
"So what did you want?"  
"Just wanted to make sure you were ok." Tony regretted the words as soon as he'd uttered them.  
"Aww, how sweet. I had no idea you cared." Loki purred sarcastically.  
"Let me rephrase that. Just wanted to make sure you weren't so angry you were considering murdering Clint."  
"Anthony, it takes more than a punch to the face to make me risk my life and freedom for something as petty as murder."  
"Petty? We're talking about ending some one's life and you're calling it petty?"  
"Yes. You're mortals. Most of you only live to be eighty or so anyway. So to me, it is petty." Loki reasoned. Tony looked at him with disgust, then stormed out without another word.  
"Thanks for stopping by." Loki called after him, before slamming the door shut and going back to his book.

The next day Loki set up an invisibility charm before venturing out of his room. He wandered into the kitchen, and stood in the door way for a few minutes, just watching the comings and goings of breakfast time. Bruce and Steve were trying to convince Tony that scotch couldn't replace milk in a bowl of corn flakes, Natasha was perched daintily on the counter, eating slices of fruit out of a bowl, and undoubtedly working out ways to kill people with the spoon that was lying next to her, Thor was raiding the cupboards for pop tarts and Clint was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly everything went blurry and Loki felt like he'd been awake for weeks on end. His muscles ached and he felt a throbbing pain in his head. Even something as simple as an invisibility charm was too much for him in his present state. He swore loudly, and everyone in the kitchen jumped, and looked around to see where the noise had come from. Chuckling inwardly, he snuck up on Steve, and let the charm fade away.  
"What the fuck!" Bruce yelled, while Steve just screamed. Everyone else burst out laughing.  
"Thanks for the cereal," Loki smiled, taking the whiskey drenched corn flakes out of Tony's hands, and wandered off to find a spoon.  
"...Your welcome?" Tony stared at the spot where Loki had been, then went back to the cupboard. Loki hopped onto the counter next to Natasha. She casually picked up a knife and started fiddling with it. Loki laughed. She raised an eyebrow. He glanced at her suspiciously and started eating his corn flakes.  
"Clint really fucked you up the other day, huh?" She asked, smirking.  
"That's one way of putting it."  
"And you don't have enough magic to fix it?"  
"Evidently."  
"And yet you can teleport?"  
"I didn't teleport. I walked in, but I was invisible. It's a very simple spell, and I wanted to make sure no one was poisoning anything before I ate it."  
"I see... You're worried about being poisoned, yet you willingly eat whiskey corn flakes?"  
"There's nothing wrong with mixing alcohol and cereal." Loki grinned, eating a massive spoonful to prove his point.  
"Gross." Natasha shuddered, and went back to her sliced fruit.  
"Indeed. Where is Clint, by the way?"  
"He left early. Fury had a mission for him."  
"Ah good. So I can make it through the day without being attacked?"  
"I wouldn't say that. You have yet to be seen in public. You could get attacked then." Steve pointed out.  
"What am I supposed to do anyway? I mean, to help." Loki asked.  
"I have no idea. Was Odin high when he sent you down here?" Tony asked  
"Quite possibly."  
"What can we possibly do with him?" Bruce asked.  
"I don't know what he can do to help Manhattan, but I'm working on some sort of magic blocky thing, for the suit. He could help me with that until we think of something better for him to do." Tony suggested.


	4. Chapter 4

"Can you show me some magic?" Tony asked. They were standing in the lab. Loki had a tracker bracelet on his wrist and JARVIS was monitoring and logging his every move. Yet Tony still felt uneasy with him being there.  
"I thought you had been paying attention. I cannot use much magic."  
"Well then do something simple. A child's spell. Whats the first spell you ever learnt?" Tony asked. Loki walked over to the desk and picked up a piece of paper. He then sat on the floor and began folding it, until it was an origami bird. After Loki muttered a few words in Norse, the bird began to fly around the room, chirping contentedly.  
"That's awesome!" Tony laughed, as the bird landed on his shoulder and began pecking at a strand of his hair. Loki smiled weakly and let the bird return to its original, inanimate state.  
"So how do you do it?"  
"You want me to teach you?"  
"No I just thought if I understood how to do it it would be easier for me to make a defense against it. But now that you mention it, magical powers do sound cool."  
"Perhaps when I get stronger I could teach you. But right now..."  
"Yeah, I get it. So, Lokihart, whats the theory behind it?"  
"Lokihart?"  
"Its a combination of Loki and Lockhart. You know, the guy from Harry Potter."  
"You would liken me to that fraud who cannot even mend a broken arm without something going horribly wrong? I am insulted." Loki glared slightly.  
"How did you know ...?"  
"That's what I was reading when you came to visit yesterday." Loki shrugged, examining his fingernails.  
"Wait. The only copy was in my room."  
"Someone put a collection of books in my room. That was amongst them."  
"Oh. Yeah, that was me. They were mostly jokes, I didn't think I'd put the Potter books in with them."  
"You did. Quite frankly I was grateful for that little mishap. There was not a chance in Hel I was going to read The story of Rudolf the Red-nose reindeer."  
"What about Norse Mythology: The Story of Loki and Svadilfari?" Tony asked, grinning.  
"Childbirth was incredibly painful, I do not wish to experience it once again through the pages of a children's book." Loki glared at him a little. Tony gaped.  
"Hold up. You're saying that actually happened?"  
"Yes. Of course. Why would you purchase that book if you thought it didnt?"  
"I thought it was just something a drunken Viking made up! I figured maybe it'd embarrass you."  
"Nope. All real."  
"Wow... So you actually gave birth to a spider horse?"  
"Sleipnir may have eight legs but he has nothing to do with arachnids."  
"Okay, fair enough. You're a mother, congrats." Tony grinned. Loki threw a pencil at his head.

"That just sounds like something off a really bad sitcom!" Tony laughed. They had abandoned the suit, and were sat in the lab, just chatting. Loki was telling him the story of when Thor had had his hammer stolen by Thrym. He had just gotten to the bit about the fake bride.  
"It's true!" He protested, snickering.  
"Did Thor actually get married? Was there a honeymoon?"  
"Well, he says that as soon as he got his hands on Mjolnir, he pulled off the veil and started going off on a rampage. But I was there, and what actually happened was he got drunk, said the vows, threw the bouquet at my face, then ran off with Thrym for several days." Loki grinned. Tony smirked, and made a mental note to never let Thor live it down.  
"So did they actually...? I mean... This Thyrm didn't mind that his "bride" was actually a guy?"  
"Thor came back limping, if that is what you mean." Loki chuckled. Tony let out a bark of laughter.  
"Sir, Pepper is here." JARVIS informed them. Tony swore and got up.  
"Is there a problem?" Loki asked, still sprawled out over his chair.  
"I may have missed a couple meetings. I also may have slept through the ones I did go to." Tony ran towards the elevator. Loki slowly got up and lazily sauntered over.  
"Why is it any business of hers if you did? And why are you so scared?" He asked, leaning against the elevator wall and raising an eyebrow at Tony.  
"She's running my company, and she's a pretty terrifying person."  
"Really? This should be fun!" The elevator doors sprang open and Pepper walked towards Tony, hitting him with a death stare that would make a valkyrie proud.

After a minute or so of yelling at the cowering billionaire, she turned to Loki with a puzzled expression on her face.  
"Do I know you from somewhere? You look familiar..."  
"Oh, I'm the one who almost enslaved humanity. I'm Loki." He explained. Pepper smiled politely, but could not displace the panic in her eyes. She grabbed Tony by his collar, and yanked him away from Loki, stepping backwards as she did so. She reached into her boot, and pulled out a knife. She wielded it as a weapon, pointing it at Loki, who simply smirked.  
"Tony, run and get the Iron Man suit on. JARVIS, call the rest of the Avengers." She ordered.  
"Pepper. It's ok, Pepper, he's allowed to be here." Tony prized her fingers off the collar of his shirt, and tried to ease the knife out of her hand.  
"Oh my god, he's doing the mind control thing isnt he?" Pepper had been informed about what happened to Clint during Loki's first visit. Tony scoffed.  
"He couldn't do that on me, even if he wanted. The sceptre thing couldnt get through the arc reactor." He grinned, a hint of pride showing in his voice.  
"So then why are you okay with him being here?" Peppers grip on the knife did not loosen.  
"Because he's powerless"  
"Powerless?"  
"Yeah, Odin took his powers away and sent him to the Earth as punishment for what he'd done or something."  
"And why is he staying here?"  
"SHEILD wanted the Avengers to be able to keep an eye on him. This seemed like the best place." Tony shrugged. Pepper considered this, and put the knife down. Tony and Loki simultaneously let out a sigh of relief. Pepper stepped forwards and bitch slapped Loki across the jaw. Loki's head snapped round at the impact and he had to bite his lip to keep from whimpering.  
"That's for Phil, you bastard." She growled before stalking off.


	5. Chapter 5

Bruce snapped the tracking bracelet shut and tightened it. Loki pulled his hand away and tried to convince himself that he didn't care that he would only be free from the Midgardian tracking device when Bruce presented his fingerprint onto the tiny scanning device. He told himself it didn't matter that these lowly mortals clearly had power over him, and it didn't matter that he was going to be forced to clean up the mess the Chitauri had made.  
"You know what you're supposed to do, right?" Bruce asked. Loki glared at him, and nodded.  
"Hey, can I tag along?" Tony asked. Loki raised an eyebrow.  
"You said that you'd be able to use magic on a larger scale if it was helping to rebuild New York. I wanna see it in action." Tony said in explanation. Loki sighed deeply, but nodded.

"So how exactly are you going to help out? I never saw you as a physical labour kinda guy." Tony asked. They were stood at the foot of the remains of a skyscraper. All the bits of broken glass and cement had been hauled away and the parts of the building that had been deemed salvageable was surrounded by scaffolding. Loki smirked.  
"I'm not." He said. He casually put his hand on a makeshift table covered with Starbucks coffee cups. His eyes flashed green, and the green light seemed to leap from his eyes, run down his arm, along the table, then into the coffee cups. The murky brown liquid glowed green for a second then reverted to its original colour.  
"What did you just do?" Tony demanded, hoping that Loki hadn't just poisoned the drinks.  
"Just giving them a helping hand." Loki shrugged casually. Before Tony could enquire as to the nature of that "helping hand", a workman reached for his cup, and had a sip. He slammed his drink down, hard, yet somehow not making any noise, and raced off.  
"What did you do?" Tony asked, partly fascinated, partly horrified.  
"Extra energy supply. Now one man can get the work of three people done. And now I have an incredible headache." Loki frowned, pressing an ice cold hand to his forehead.  
"Impressive." Tony said, looking at the small tablet phone in his hand, which had been recording energy readings for the past half hour. Loki leaned forwards slightly and tilted his head so he could see what the device was saying. He didnt really understand it but he picked things up quickly and he wanted to know how Tony's gadgets worked. He wanted to be superior to Thor in as many ways as possible, and he knew that Thor struggled with technology (hell, he struggled with holding a mobile phone in his hands for more than ten minutes without cracking the screen). Hence he had vowed to become as knowledgable as Tony with that sort of thing. Tony raised an eyebrow at him, then turned to watch everyone working there become a blur of colour and activity, overall getting work, that should have taken weeks, done in three hours. By lunch, they all staggered away from the building, finally slowing down. They all looked at each other, and down at their own bodies, trying to work out what had just happened.  
"There wont be any side effects, will there?" Tony asked, leading Loki to the sidewalk.  
"No. As long as someone makes sure that I never do that to the same group of people more than three times, then there wont be any repercussions." Loki said. Tony made a mental note of that.  
"Does that apply to all spells, or just this one?" He asked, getting into his car. Loki went around to the other side, and got in.  
"No. Many spells have no limit to how often you use them, or how long you use them for. Shape-shifting, for example." Loki put his seatbelt on, and began fiddling with his tracking bracelet. Tony did likewise, and drove off.  
"You know, I don't see why I have to wear this." He scratched at the ring of red irritated flesh surrounding the bracelet.  
"What are you on about? You tried to take over the world."  
"Yes, but do you really think that I would get very far if I tried to escape? There's no way I'd be able to teleport and I'm sure that if I was travelling on foot, sooner or later someone would recognise me, and get their revenge. You'd find me at the mercy of an angry mob, I'm sure." He pointed out.  
"You're probably right, but we're not risking it."  
"I knew you'd say that." Loki grumbled like a sulking child.

The next day, Loki was back to helping Tony perfect his anti-magic shield. JARVIS was monitoring his blood pressure and heart rate, while he did as much magic as he could. They started off with basic stuff. He created a glamour copy of himself. Not a real clone; it couldn't touch anything or even move, but it could speak and apparently think. It disappeared after 30 seconds, and Loki didn't seem any worse off. Tony stared at the spot it had been, then turned to Loki, his mind ablaze with ideas.  
"Can you make one of those, except, you know, solid?" He asked.  
"Why? Isn't one of me enough?" Loki asked with a smirk.  
"Trust me, Loki, it's more than enough. But, wouldn't it be handy? I mean, it could take over for you when you get tired. Or you could be in two places at once."  
"With me, one place is enough, and I do not tire that easily, Anthony."  
"Well then you've obviously never spent the day with me. Trust me, if you had, you'd have been gasping for breath by the end of it."  
"You _clearly_ over-estimate yourself."  
"To be honest, there's not a lot you _can_ over-estimate, with me."  
"Care to put that little statement to the test?"  
"After we're done here." Tony said, picking up his pencil, and jotting down notes, then gesturing with his head for Loki to carry on. Reluctantly, Loki used his magic to make Tony's chair rise up, then fly towards the billionaire philanthropist. Tony cried out and ducked, but it had stopped just short of crashing into him. Loki let the chair fall to the ground and it landed in front of Tony. Tony let out a breath and stood up. Loki giggled.  
"Not funny, Skywalker. When I say "show me magic", I mean show me. Not try to kill me with the force." Tony growled.  
"My apologies, Anthony. In my defense, however, your reaction was amusing." Loki said.  
"Can you stop calling me that?" Tony demanded, running a hand through his hair.  
"What? Anthony?"  
"Yes, that."  
"Of course. I shall never call you Anthony again. In fact. I hereby swear to never again call you Anthony." Loki said, putting a hand over his heart, his voice almost sounding sincere.  
"Thank you." Tony sighed.  
"You're welcome, Anthony." Loki smiled sweetly, ducking just in time to avoid the mug that came sailing towards his head.


	6. Chapter 6

Just a warning. Violence and cannibalism. I figured I'd put this in here because even though this isn't stictly an adventure based story, they had to go on at least one insane mission. So yeah. It's weird and I dont really like it. But you might.

* * *

"Brother, can I speak to you?" Thor called, knocking on Loki's door. Loki opened the door just enough to peer through it.  
"I get the feeling you will even if I say no." He sighed warily.  
"You are probably right."  
"Well what is it then?"  
"Can I ask you a question?"  
"You already have."  
"True. Can I ask you two questions?"  
"You already have."  
"Okay, can I ask you four questions?" Thor asked thoughtfully.  
"You already have."  
"When?" Thor demanded, outraged.  
"Then." Loki smirked, and made to close the door. Thor jammed his foot into the frame, preventing Loki from closing it.  
"What is it, Thor?" Loki cried, exasperated.  
"Are you avoiding me?" Thor asked, and even though he was older and larger than Loki, at that point, he seemed like a very young child. It made Loki want to laugh, and pull Thor into a tight reassuring hug at the same time. He wanted to reassure Thor that he wasnt avoiding him, and somehow that made him hate Thor all the more.  
"No. Why? Do you want me to be?" Loki growled.  
"Loki, I thought that my staying here with you... I thought we could be brothers again." Thor tried to explain.  
"Oh, Thor..." Loki's face became a picture of love and sympathy , then he grimaced, "I'm not your brother." He kicked Thor's foot out of the way, then slammed the door. Thor soon heard the small click that meant he had locked it. He cursed in Norse, then stormed off.

Loki awoke the next day to find the entire tower eerily quiet. Usually at that time, he could hear Thor's booming voice, and the drone of Clint's sarcastic comments or Steve's attempts at forcing everyone else to eat a healthy breakfast, even from his room. He slipped into the corridor. Looking around, he could neither hear or see any signs of life. He didn't like it, and for some reason that he couldn't put his finger on, it all felt very wrong. He padded down to the kitchen to find that he was indeed the only one there. He thought back to the conversation he'd had with Tony. He had sworn that right now, it would be in his best interests to not try to escape. But, presented with the opportunity... The temptation pulled at him. He could have his things packed in less than two minutes, he could have created a disguise of some form and stolen one of Tony's cars in another five minutes. He could have been half way to Washington DC before they got back. But then again, if they got back while he was packing, or searching through their rooms or in the process of hotwiring a car, they'd never let him out of their sights again. He might even be subjected once more to the handcuffs.  
"JARVIS, where is everyone?" He asked.  
"On a mission, Mr Laufeyson." The AI told him.  
"Do you know where they are or when they will be back?"  
"Yes."  
"Will you tell me?"  
"I have been ordered to not tell you anything of importance."  
"Of course. A purely need to know basis." Loki muttered to himself.  
"Sir, if you are in need of company, Pepper is on her way over." JARVIS told him.  
"Any particular reason why?" Loki asked as he started making breakfast for himself.  
"I believe Mr Barton said it was to "baby sit the resident serial killer."" For some reason, this made Loki feel better. Because even though he was totally at the Avenger's mercy, they still feared him. They still remembered every evil thing he had done and shuddered. If they woke in the night in a cold sweat, yelling and reaching for weapons, it was because of him. He liked that. He wolfed down a bowl of whiskey corn flakes, set up a few minor pranks, had a shower, and was in the process of getting dressed, when Pepper arrived.  
"Loki?" She called.  
"I'm in my quarters. If you dare to enter, you will find yourself walking out, sans a limb or two." Loki called back, as he pulled on boxers.  
"So Norse Gods wank too, huh? Who knew?" Pepper jibed in mock curiosity.  
"I am getting dressed, you mewling quim." Loki growled, as he buttoned up his shirt and wriggled into a pair of skinny jeans. He contemplated staying in his room, but decided that he should go talk to Pepper, as she might know something. Or at least, in spending time with her, he could be as annoying as possible to get back at her for hitting him. He let himself out and went up to what served as the living room.  
"Greetings Pepper." He growled as he got himself a drink. Pepper barely looked up from her laptop to acknowledge him.  
"I'm sort of busy Loki." She muttered.  
"Of course. Do you know where the others are?"  
"Yeah. They're in Central Park."  
"They're in the park? What a fun day out." Loki envisioned a cheery picnic. Pepper scoffed.  
"No, not like that. There's been some disappearances. People going missing. From the park. The police found .. they found bits of them. Teeth, eyes, bones, various organs. Never whole bodies, but just enough to tell them that the missing people were dead. Surveillance cameras didnt show anything, and it was just close enough that Tony felt the need to check it out." Pepper told him, her mind flashing back to the pictures she'd been shown. She felt slightly sick when she remembered that a little girl had found a human heart, drenched in blood, contorted almost beyond recognition.  
"I see." Loki sat on the sofa and brought his knees up to his chest, his hands clasped around his drink, tight enough to make his knuckles go white. Pepper looked at him for a minute, then she went back to her work. Loki stared of into the distance, not quite sure why this bothered him so much. Then he realised he had seen something like it before. Suddenly he was on his feet, and starting towards the door.  
"Loki?" Pepper asked.  
"It's the tree people! They're cannibals! They live in the trees and they eat their victims alive." Loki explained as he raced down the corridor. Pepper chased after him.  
"Loki, why is this such a big deal? The guys can handle it."  
"It's because they possess magical and hypnotic abilities. And they would never be this careless. They have survived for millenia in plain sight and never been spotted before. They wanted to be noticed. It's a trap." Loki explained as he threw his shoes on and grabbed a jacket.  
"Loki, I don't understand." Pepper protested.  
"What is it like to have such an empty head? It must be very peaceful." Loki commented. Pepper made to hit him and he ducked.  
"Look. They want the Avengers to come. That's why they are so close to Stark Tower and that's why they've given themselves away. I don't know if they plan to kill the Avengers or brainwash them, but either way, it isn't good."  
"How do I know you aren't lying? I mean, why on Earth would you even care?" Pepper asked. That, Loki decided, was an excellent question. Why did he care what happened to Tony and the others? He decided it must have something to do with Thor. He did hate him, but he couldn't just forget all those years when they hade been friends. When they had been brothers. Surely that counted for something?  
"Thor... I can't just leave him to fight something he wont possibly be able to defeat." He muttered.  
"You actually care about him?" Pepper asked.  
"No! I mean.. yes, I suppose ... I mean ... If anyone shall slay him, it will be me, got that?"  
"Loki, you aren't going out there without that bracelet. I can't just let you run off on the half chance there might be a magical cannibalistic tribe of people living in the trees of Central Park." Pepper grabbed ahold of his wrist and pulled him back. He sighed, and nodded, and she snapped the bracelet onto his wrist.  
"The only reason why I'm even considering this is because Tony might be in danger. If he wasn't, you'd be locked up in the cellar wearing a muzzle by now." Pepper told him.  
"A muzzle? I had no idea you Midgaurdians were so kinky." Loki couldn't stop himself saying before he ran out the door.

Tony had to admit, he had no idea what he was doing. He felt the need to check it out because it was so close. People he had known had gone missing. And then, days later, their organs and bones had been found by little kids playing in central park. He knew he had to do something. But now that he was actually there, he wondered if there was anything he could actually do. It was unlikely the killer was still there. But he had them search the park anyway. After ten minutes or so, he decided to admit it was a stupid idea.  
"Come on guys, there's nothin-" He was cut off by Clint's tortured screams. Everyone raced towards the sound, but by the time they got there, Clint was gone, his bow and quiver abandoned on the ground. In a large pool of deep red liquid. Before any of them could do or say anything, there was a large flash of light and a bang that resembled a crack of thunder. With that, Loki appeared crouched on the ground in front of them, with Pepper, in a similar stance, at his side. They both looked like they were going to either vomit or pass out, Pepper from the shock of having teleported for the first time, Loki from the strain of using that much magic.  
"I thought you said you couldn't use magic." She gasped.  
"I didn't think I'd be able to do this, but it was worth a shot." Loki panted, straightening himself up. He looked around at the superhero's confused and accusing faces, and his mouth opened, about to offer an explanation, when he saw something out of the corner of his eyes. Quicker than seemingly possible, he darted away from where he had been standing, dragging Pepper with him and grabbed Natasha's gun. With two shots into the topmost branches of tree closest to Hawkeye's abandoned weapon, he sent two figures tumbling down. One was Clint. He fell from the tree, drenched with blood. One of his eyes was missing and a large portion of skin had been torn from his face. He hit the ground with a sickening thud, moaned with agony then passed out. The other figure was a little girl. She dropped from the tree, landing on her feet like a cat. Her eyes twinkled with laughter, and as she giggled, Clint's blood dribbled down her chin. She licked her lips with a snakelike tongue that dragged across the fangs she had in lieu of teeth. Natasha noticed the girl had something shiny clutched in one chubby hand. Slowly, she moved towards the girl, and gently took ahold of her arm. Peeling back fingers, she revealed Clint's eye sat there in the palm of her hand. Loki took the eye from her, and knelt down beside Clint. He prised the archer's eyelids open and the air crackled with magic as the optic nerve glowed green, and grew to reconnect with the severed eye.  
"Run. There are more. Hundreds. And if one infant can take him out, then you stand no chance against the mature ones. RUN." Loki warned, disappearing again, taking Pepper and Clint with him. Silently, Natasha tightened her grip on the girl's wrist, and spun her around, pulling the blood splattered ribbon from the girl's blonde plait and wrapping it around her wrists, forming a make shift, bubblegum pink, handcuff. She picked the girl up, handed her to Thor, and they all ran.


	7. Chapter 7

I put this paragraph all on it's own because it just didn't fit in with the rest of the chapter. Don't worry. This isn't the entire update. There is more! BTW, I'd love it if you could take five seconds or so to jot down your thoughts on this.

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When Clint awoke, he was in a hospital bed, and Natasha was by his side. She handed him a glass of water, and he readily accepted it, wincing slightly; the IV tube pulled on his arm as he reached for it.  
"What happened?" He asked, his voice a little croaky.  
"What do you remember?" She asked, her voice surprisingly calm, considering what had happened.  
"Searching the park. Thinking Stark was insane. Seeing a little girl. She -" He raised a hand tentatively to his left eye. Natasha handed him a small mirror. His eyes widened when he saw that his face was intact.  
"How did...?"  
"Loki."  
"Loki?"  
"Pepper told him where we were. Apparently he knew what had killed those people. He came, and -ur- rescued you from the tree, then he fixed your vision. And made your flesh grow back. In fact, he did pretty much everything. The only reason you're here is because they said you might have a concussion from falling out of that tree."  
"Are you kidding me?"  
"No. Loki saved your life."


	8. Chapter 8

Tony walked into Loki's room, and spent more time than he'd planned just standing there, leaning back against the desk as he looked down at Loki. The god was whimpering softly, curled up in a cocoon of blankets, holding an icepack to his temple in an attempt to get rid of the headache. His eyes were shut and if it weren't for the vice-like grip he had on the icepack, Tony would have sworn he was asleep. Tony cleared his throat as a way of revealing his presence. Loki didn't notice. Tony sat down on the edge of his bed. When Loki realised that someone was there, he stopped whimpering, embarrassed that someone had found him in such a vulnerable state. He did not, however, sit up or even open his eyes.  
"Who are you and why are you in here?" He asked, his voice slightly muffled as he was talking into a pillow.  
"It's Tony, and I'm here because I dont get it. Why did you do that?"  
"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realise I wasnt allowed to do good things. I should have let you all die. Then I wouldn't feel like Thor had cracked my skull open with Mjolnir." Loki growled.  
"I'm not saying you shouldn't have done it. It's just... I thought you said human lives were worthless?"  
"Anthony, I went there to protect Thor. If anyone shall slay him, it shall be me, and me alone. When I saw what was going on, I acted to save myself and inadvertently ended up saving the one known as Clint."  
"You fixed his eye. You didn't need to do that, and none of us would have belittled you for not doing it if you hadn't, seeing as none of us knew you could. So why did you?" Tony persisted. Loki sat up, and opened his eyes, taking the ice pack away from his head. He regarded Tony with a weary and tired expression in his eyes.  
"What do you want me to say?" He asked finally. Tony tried to think of something to say, then he saw something that stopped him in his tracks.  
"Loki. Your head. Your hands. What the hell?" He gasped. Loki frowned at him, then looked down at his hands. They were dark blue. He cursed inwardly as the blue tint spread up his arms, and the blue on his forehead soon covered his entire face. He closed his eyes, and when he opened them, his iris' were blood red.  
"Oh my god. Loki, are you okay?" Tony asked, getting up and rushing to the god's side. Loki backed away until he hit the wall and toppled out of the bed.  
"Go away." Loki growled as he struggled to untangle himself from the blankets. Tony ignored him, and gently pulled him to his feet. His skin sizzled when it came into contact with Loki's and he pulled away, hissing in pain. He looked down at his palms to find that they had blistered, as if he'd burned himself on something incredibly cold.  
"Loki whats going on?" He asked. Loki pushed him away and walked over to his open window, hoping the warm breeze would restore his skin to it's usual Aesir pink.  
"You are aware that Thor is not my brother by blood? That I was adopted? Well it goes further than that. We're not even the same species. I am a Frostgiant." Loki didn't want to see or hear Tony's reaction. He felt that Tony was approaching him, about to say something, so without turning around, he created a blast of air, strong enough to push Tony out of his room, then kicked the door shut, racing over to lock it before Tony could reach the handle. He slumped down against the door and tried to catch his breath.

Days after his skin had reverted to its usual colour, Loki stayed locked in his room. People knocked on his door occasionally but he ignored them. JARVIS occasionally reminded him that he needed to eat and drink, in an attempt to try and prise the god from his room, but Loki, convinced that Tony had set him up to it, just swore profusely in various different languages until the AI stopped talking to him. Then, just for good measure, he ripped up a t-shirt, and tied the scraps of cloth around the CCTV camera, effectively blinding JARVIS, for that room at least. He was exhausted, his throat burned from when he'd been sick and his entire being was aching from using so much magic. He was so frustrated with his powerlessness, he spent an entire day just screaming abuse at an empty room, hoping that Odin could hear him. He called the Allfather every name in the Nine, and more. He only stopped because his throat so sore, he feared he might lose his voice. He now could see why Midgaurdians were happy enough to live without magic, if it brought them this much pain. But above all that, what was bothering him was the fact that Tony had seen him in his Jotun form. Even before that, Tony had thought of him as a psychopath, a heartless killer, but now what must he think? That Loki was a hideous freak of nature? At the time, Loki hadn't wanted to be pitied, but now, looking back on it, he was sure that he wouldn't have received pity even if he had wanted it. He had burned Tony's hand and thrown him out without an explanation. He doubted that Tony ever wanted to see him again.  
"That's stupid. "See me again" implies he wanted to see me in the first place." Loki muttered to himself. He poured himself a drink from one of the vodka bottle he had stolen before Pepper had come over, wincing slightly at the taste but welcoming the numbness it offered.


	9. Chapter 9

Okay, so I feel compelled to update this as much as possible because a certain someone is reading it and I want to impress her. I know. I know. I know. There is so much fail in that one sentance that I dont know how I'm going to go on living. Anyway, I own nothing, if I did own the Avengers, Black Widow would have been a little less slutty and there would have been much more Loki/Tony interaction. Maybe Loki would have escaped at the end, ready to start plotting evil again. Black Panther and Luke Cage may have made an appearence and maybe even Deadpool. Because there are actually tonnes of Avengers, but... I'm rambling. I'm sorry.

Also. Slender. Don't own that either. If anyone from something awful forums sees this, I just want to say please don't sue me I don't have a lawyer. I've got no money. I do have cake but YOU CANT HAVE THAT!~ Happy Halloween and enjoy the update.

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Two hours or so later, Tony knocked at the door. He really didnt expect to be let in or even spoken to, but he wasn't just going to let Loki waste away in there. Not without saying something. Not without trying to help, whatever the problem was. Loki finished off the last bottle, clambered to his feet and staggered over to the door, unlocking it. A dumb smile spread across his face when he realised who it was.  
"Hey T-Tony." He grinned. Tony looked him up and down and sighed, relieved. Loki was clean, seemingly unharmed and the room was relatively intact. He'd been expecting something worse.  
"Loki, are you alright?" He asked gently. Loki raised an eyebrow, and Tony wondered why he was doing this. He could have asked any of them to talk to Loki for him. Almost anyone would be better at dealing with emotions, he was sure. Natasha could probably manipulate and trick Loki into agreeing to come down or at least into eating something. Thor was his brother, so even if he couldn't achieve anything, at least he'd understand what Loki was feeling. Why was _he_ doing this?  
"Why do you ask?" Loki slurred slightly. Tony cursed inwardly.  
"No one's seen you in a week. And as far as we know, you haven't been eating." Tony wanted to express his concern about the deranged yelling that they'd all heard, but he didn't dare. Loki wasnt exactly mentally stable and who knew how he'd react?  
"I'm fine. Nothing to worry your pretty little head over." Loki smirked. Tony raised an eyebrow.  
"Are you drunk?" He asked warily. A look of indignation appeared on Loki's face and it had no right to be there. The air was sour with alcohol, and Tony knew it wasnt from his own breath.  
"I'm not drunk, you're just very sober. I'd offer you a drink, but..." He pointed over his shoulder in what he hoped was the direction of the empty bottles. Tony spotted them and swore softly, running a hand through his hair.  
"Loki, I don't understand. What's wrong? Talk to me." He pleaded. Loki shot him a condescending look and began to speak as if talking to a small child.  
"Of course you don't understand! Why would you? You're a mortal. You don't need to worry about your so-called father raising you to hate your own species. You wouldn't know what it's like to have your children taken from you just because of some damned prophecy. And you couldn't even begin to fathom what it's like to -" Loki hadn't even realised he was yelling, his voice getting higher and more distressed, until he noticed the look on Tony's face. He broke off and walked away, trying to bite back the tiny sob that had caught in his throat. Tony followed him in, quietly shutting the door behind him. Loki sat down on the bed, and brought his knees up to his chest, subtly wiping his eyes as he did so. Tony sat opposite him and self-consciously put a hand on the god's shoulder, unsure of what to do. Slowly, Loki uncurled himself and looked up at Tony with big eyes that were incredulous, even through the tears. Tony retracted his arm, embarrassed.  
"Sorry. I just thought..." Tony mumbled. He shut up when Loki threw himself forwards, throwing his arms around Tony's neck. Loki began to cry, flat out sobbing into Tony's shoulder. Tony awkwardly put his arms around Loki, patting his back slightly. Loki relaxed slightly, loosening his grip, but edging closer to Tony. Loki sighed contentedly, and began nuzzling Tony's neck. Tony froze as Loki pulled himself onto his lap, straddled him and started to kiss/bite his neck. One of Loki's hands trailed underneath his shirt, the other tried to undo his pants. One hand traced the outline of the Arc Reactor with a feather-light touch, the other tugged uselessly at the thankfully shoddy zip. Tony let out a moan as Loki's tongue grazed over a particularly sensitive area, then he stopped himself. He caught Loki's hands and forced the god to look up.  
"Loki stop it."  
"Okay, less teeth." Loki muttered, before moving to go back to Tony's neck. Tony rolled his eyes, and forced him to look up again.  
"Not what I meant. Come on Loki, be honest. I wouldn't blame you if you did, I mean come on, look at me, but do you really want this?" Tony asked. Loki smiled wickedly in response.  
"Even If I didn't, you sure as Hel do. Don't deny it. " Loki took delight in the shudder that emerged from Tony as he slowly ran his ice cold hands down his chest. Tony bite back a moan and tried to push Loki away from him.  
"Loki, stop it." He said, with such a sense of finality that Loki nodded. Slowly, reluctantly, Loki untangled his hands from Tony's various articles of clothing and pushed himself off the billionaire's lap. Tony got up, and looked down at the raven haired god, who seemed to be trying to shrink himself. When that failed, he pulled the blankets over himself, refusing to be seen. Tony crouched down next to the bed, and pulled the blankets away from Loki's face. He couldn't resist brushing the god's hair out of his eyes, and gently stroking the side of his face. Loki half-smiled at him, then caught ahold of Tony's shirt collar, dragging the other man's face down to meet his own. Their lips met and Loki's eyes fluttered closed. Tony didn't know how to respond, he wasn't sure if he should try and pull away, or call for help or ...Tony's eyes closed, he tilted his head slightly to get a more comforting angle as he pressed his lips against Loki's, not overly sure of what he was doing any more. He shuddered with pleasure as Loki's lips parted, and he took the opportunity to explore his mouth with his tongue. Tony moaned into Loki's mouth as his tongue entered his. He opened his eyes and pulled away when he felt Loki stop responding, and he realised in horror that Loki had passed out. He stood up and smoothed out his hair, hating himself for what he'd just done. He let himself out, ripping the lock off the door as he went.

Loki woke up the next day, and just laid there, massaging his temple as the events of the previous night slowly came back to him.  
"Oh please tell me that didn't happen." Loki begged no one in particular. He sat up and looked around, possibly searching for any evidence that nothing transpired the night before. Instead, he found a small breakfast tray on his bedside table. Aside from the bowl of cereal, the glass of orange juice, the coffee, there was also a box of aspirins and a note.  
"Loki. I don't know if your magic prevented you from getting them before. If they did, this is going to come as a shock. If not, this is going to sound very condescending. Anyway, what you're experiencing right now is a hangover. Take as many of the aspirins as you can fit in your mouth, get a shower, then come and find me. We need to talk. - Tony." Loki read to himself. He strode over to his door, tempted to just lock it and go back to bed, but he found that the lock was gone. Another note was stuck to the door.  
"Guess what? The lock's gone, and if you dont start showing your face at least once every two days, we're gonna take turns bursting into your room and carrying you out." Loki cursed inwardly, and began to follow out the note's orders.

Half an hour later, Loki was peering through the open door way of the living room, watching the Avengers play Slender. It was amusing really, to watch superheros, who had battled horrors unknown to man, and unbeatable evil countless times, huddle around a laptop and scream at the sight of a pixellated monster. The group all hurled instructions at a distressed Bruce, who was tapping furiously at the keys.  
"Why don't we have a weapon?" Clint demanded.  
"Can't we use the truck to escape?" Steve asked.  
"Maybe we could break into the storage unit and take shelter in it." Thor mused.  
"Guys it doesnt work like that!" Tony's aggravated yell turned into a girlish scream as he spotted Slenderman behind a tree. Inspiration struck Loki, and he had to bite his lip to stop from giggling at the very thought. He grinned wickedly, and used magic to cloak the features of his face, and transformed his outfit of a t-shirt and skinny jeans into a black suit. Without saying a word, he teleported himself to behind the sofa they were all piled onto, and tapped Bruce's shoulder with a gloved hand. The screams that commenced were among the most terrified and haunted screams Loki had ever heard. He let his disguise disappear and dropped to the floor, his entire being shaking with laughter. Bruce snapped the laptop shut and pushed it off his lap.  
"Not funny!" He snapped, walking out of the room, barley managing to hide the embarrassed blush that spread across his face. The rest of them started laughing uncontrollably in that relieved/embarrassed way that almost always follows mindless screaming. Natasha, the only one who hadn't screamed, rolled her eyes, high fived Loki, and helped him up.  
"Someone's feeling better." Clint growled, mocking punching Loki in an attempt to feel manlier.  
"Brother, this is excellent news. I feared you had lost the last of your sanity." Thor pulled himself up off the sofa and embraced his brother in a bone-crushing hug. Loki wriggled away and hopped over the back of the sofa, sitting down next to Tony and Natasha.  
"Clint, you scream like a maiden." He giggled.  
"You laugh like a schoolgirl with a crush." Clint retorted. Loki raised a quizzical eyebrow.  
"I laugh like a schoolgirl who has been flattened?" He asked.  
"No. The Midgaurdian saying "crush" means an idealistic infatuation." Thor explained. Loki scoffed.  
"You mortals amuse me. Stark, you requested my presence?" Loki asked, holding the note between his index and middle finger.  
"I think I almost perfected the magic barrier, I'd like to test it out." Tony nodded.  
"Of course. To the lab. After you." Loki stood up and let Tony lead the way to the lab, telling himself that he'd only said "after you" because it sort of made "to the lab" sound less overly dramatic. He certainly didnt want to check out the mortal's ass, no matter how tight his jeans were.


	10. Chapter 10

"Loki, what the hell happened last night?" Tony demanded, looking Loki straight in the eye.  
"I don't quite recall. It must be something to do with the questionable amount of alcohol I consumed." Loki shrugged and looked away, hoping Tony wouldn't notice the lie. Tony paled a little, which suggested he didn't.  
"You don't remember? Okay then. Before you got hammered. What was that about?"  
"I was simply frustrated with my powerlessness."  
"Simple frustration doesn't lead to days of solitude and getting absolutely shitfaced." Tony crossed his arms over the Arc Reactor.  
"Why do you even give a damn?" Loki all but growled. Tony opened his mouth to retort but then closed it as he began to fully considered the question. He had only one answer, and he didn't think Loki would like it. He sighed and unfolded his arms, collapsed into a chair and looked up at Loki in a way that admitted defeat.  
"I don't know Loki. You're a cruel, merciless, psychopathic murderer, but for some odd reason, I care about you. This whole team was assembled to try to defeat you, and yet I don't want you to get hurt. It doesn't make sense and I can't explain it but I... I guess I like you."  
"You don't hate me?" Loki's eyes widened in surprise.  
"Were you not listening?" Tony raised an eyebrow and gave him an odd look.  
"But I burned you."  
"It wasnt your fault. Thor told me that you didn't use magic to make that happen. He said that Frostgiant's skin is lethal to the touch, but since you weren't exactly a Frostgiant, it would only sting. Besides, it's not like it's nothing I can't handle," Tony held up his almost fully healed hands. Clearly the burn had not been as bad as Loki had imagined.  
"Not exactly a Frostgiant?" Even Thor knows I'm a runt." Loki scowled.  
"Runt? Loki, you're huge. Taller than me anyway." Tony smiled playfully.  
"Tony I'm sorry about what happened last night. I don't know what I was thinking."  
"Wait, you remember that?"  
"Yeah and I'm really sorry and embarrassed and.." Loki trailed off with a shrug.  
"Don't be embarrassed. You're a good kisser." Tony felt the need to say. Loki blinked owlishly before grinning mischievously.  
"Right back at you."  
"It's a pity you passed out. I was having a good time."  
"Me too."  
"Wanna pick up where we left off?" Tony asked  
"Where exactly did we leave off?" Loki frowned. Tony walked towards him.  
"Well, I seem to remember doing this." He whispered as he brushed a lock of hair over Loki's ear. Loki smiled.  
"And then I did this." Loki's spidery fingers trailed down Tony's neck, tenderly stroking the bruise he had acquired the night before, and tightened around his collar, pulling him closer. Their lips were millimetres apart, and they were both staring each other in the eye, both hoping the other wasn't joking, both daring the other to close the gap.

Neither of them knew who had moved, they just suddenly found themselves deep in an embrace. Loki's hands were tucked into the back of Tony's jeans, and Tony's hands were entangled in Loki's ebony hair. Loki's tongue was in Tony's mouth, and Tony was loving every second of it.  
"Hey Stark, do you think ...what the fuck?" Clint was stood in the doorway, holding a broken phone in his hands. He had come down to ask Tony if he could fix it but then he had noticed that Tony was a little busy. Tony tried to jump away, but Loki tightened his grip and pulled Tony closer. He kept the kiss going for another minute before slowly leaning away. He turned to Clint with a defiantly unembarrassed look on his face, and smiled lazily. Part of Tony was impressed at Loki's confidence and part of him wanted to go hide behind the old iron man suits until Clint left.  
"Hey, Everdeen." Tony grinned awkwardly.  
"Am I insane, or were you and Loki just partaking in a hot steamy make-out session?" He asked. Loki and Tony both burst out laughing. Clint's glare reduced their laughter to little snickers and Loki managed to answer him with a semi-straight face.  
"Well I don't know much about your mental state, but we were definatly...what was it you said? Having a "hot steamy make out session"? We were doing that." He grinned.  
"Hey Stark, I don't know if you noticed, but he's evil." Clint said in the tone one might use to explain something to a small child.  
"He saved your life." Tony countered defensively.  
"That doesn't mean he didn't kill a hundred other people!" Clint was on the verge of yelling and Loki sensed a fight could easily occur between the two mortals. He decided to try and ease the tension, at least on one side.  
"I thought you Midgaurdians thought it rude to talk in front of some one, yet as though they were not present." Loki stated, hopping backwards to sit on the desk. His ice-cold hand slid over Tony's, and he held it, interlocking his finger's with Tony's. Tony seemed to visibly relax at this, even if Loki was only doing it to examine his watch.  
"We do. Clint, stop being so rude!" Tony smirked, also sitting on the desk. He slowly put his arm around Loki's waist, and when Loki didn't object to it, he moved slightly closer to the god. Loki made a slightly annoyed, slightly amused tutting noise as he realised that Tony had intentionally made it so that the only way Loki could avoid having his arm crushed was putting it around Tony's waist. Clint watched them and shook his head in disbelief. He put the broken phone on the table, and walked away.  
"I don't want to know. I really don't." He said, his voice rising with each word to drown out any noises the pair might be making. Tony and Loki turned so they were sat facing each other and they made to start over with their "hot steamy make out session". After a minute or so, Tony pulled away but didn't remove his hands from Loki's hips.  
"We probably shouldn't keep this going." Tony muttered into Loki's ear, his seductive tone totally contradicting with what he was saying.  
"And why not?" Loki asked, his almost bored tone masking the insecurities and accusations buried within the question.  
"My team mates might not approve." Tony said as he was leaning in.  
"Why does that matter? Who cares what they approve of?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow in a challenging way.  
"Not me." Tony smirked just before he started kissing Loki again.  
"Thor certainly wouldn't care. "Brother, at least it is not another stallion."" Loki did a fairly decent impression of Thor as Tony pulled away to undo his shirt. Loki wriggled out of it as soon as all the buttons were undone. His hands slid under Tony's shirt, and he began to bite/kiss Tony's neck. When Tony moaned audibly, Loki started to undo Tony's shirt buttons.  
"Fury would be furious." Tony managed to say on the second attempt, uninterrupted by moans or shudders. Loki's snickers turned into heated groans as Tony undid both their pants, kicked them away, and pulled Loki onto his lap. Both of them were done with talking for the rest of the afternoon.

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Hey guys. My half term break is over so there'll be fewer updates, but they'll still be as good. I know this is a short one but they're together now, so it should just be fun from now in. Well, they're not together in the traditional sense, but if one of them was to walk into the other's room late at night and demand sex, they'd probably get it, rather than something thrown at their head. Though with Tony, the infamous playboy ... well, Loki might have gotten it anyway. Anyway, I hope you've liked it thus far.


	11. Chapter 11

As soon as Tony had taken a shower with Loki, and gotten dressed, he'd chased after Clint and sworn him to secrecy. Clint had been tempted to tell Fury, but Tony knew enough about him to blackmail him with ease. Furious and red in the face, Clint had stormed off without giving his word, but Tony was fairly sure he wouldn't tell anyone. And so it began. Tony and Loki fooled around behind the others' backs, under the guise of building a magic repelling shield for the suit. Because it was so far from all the hang out spots, and because Tony was so protective of his suits that it didn't seem at all suspicious when it was locked from the inside, the lab became the ideal hook up spot. And luckily for him, none of the others cared that Tony had an unexplained "rash" on his back (AKA carpet burn). Everything was going awesomely until -

"We have a problem." Tony slammed his hands down on the table Loki was reading at. Loki didn't even acknowledge Tony, he simply kept on reading. Tony cleared his throat and Loki scowled. He slipped a scrap of card in to keep his place, then slowly closed the book, his eyes on locked onto the page, still reading until the last possible second. He finally looked up.  
"Yes, Tony?" Loki flashed a disarming smile, and at any other time, Tony would have grinned back, but at that point he was too panicked.  
Bruce wants to know how the shield is going." He growled.  
"So?" Loki asked, raising an eyebrow.  
"We havent done any work on it for ages. It's still in the basic stages of planning."  
"Still not seeing the problem."  
"I told you I was finished with it,_ in front of him_! He thinks we're done." Tony ran a hand through his hair in frustration.  
"Well then, I'll have to think of a plausible reason to explain why we aren't finished." Loki smiled innocently.

"When can I see the suit? We haven't worked together on a project in forever. In fact, we don't really hang out _at all_ anymore." Bruce moaned as Tony ate a slice of pizza. Tony swallowed his mouthful, and was about to retort, when a massive explosion from the lab threw him and Bruce from the sofa. As they coughed to clear the smoke from their lungs, pain seared through their bodies, but they had little time to register it, what with all the chaos unfolding around them. The entire tower shook, its walls begging, pleasing for the end. Shattered glass from the now none existant windows rained down on them like deadly confetti. The terrified screams and wounded cries of the other Avengers could barely be heard over the distorted wails of JARVIS's alarm siren. The tower slowly shuddered to a halt, and the smoke filtered out of the room. It took a few seconds for the world to stop spinning, and even longer for the ringing in Tony's ears to subside.  
"Sir, there has been an explosion in your laboratory." The AI's voice said over the sirens.  
"Oh really? I hadn't noticed. Shut off the siren." Tony snapped as he helped Bruce up and brushed glass out of his hair. They both looked around, trying to survey the damage, then Tony finally cracked and asked JARVIS.  
"There is little exterior damage and no neighbouring buildings were affected. There is no loss of real value outside the lab, but at the present moment, I am unable to assess the damage in there. As for human casualties, Agents Barton and Romanoff are all without injury, as is Mr Rodgers. Mr Odinson has fractured his hand and Mr Laufeyson has a plate of metal embedded in his abdomen, that he is attempting to remove with magic." The AI informed them. Tony's jaw dropped, and his eyes widened in horror. Images assaulted Tony's mind. _Loki lying somewhere, having to strain to lift his head up so that he didn't drown in a pool of his own blood, tears streaming down his face as the last spark of light drains from his eyes. His head drops back into the crimson pool, causing little ripples to spread across it. One last moan and then Loki is gone forever. _Tony whispered Loki's name and darted from the room.  
"JARVIS, where is he?" Tony demanded as he raced down the corridor, hysterically searching for Loki.  
"He is in the elevator, sir." JARVIS told him. Tony spun round and threw himself back into the living room just in time to see the elevator doors open. Loki strolled out, his clothes burned and blood soaked, and yet he himself appeared unharmed. He held a scrap of metal in his hands, and he absently fiddled with it as he walked. He dropped it when he saw Tony hurtling towards him.  
"Loki!" Tony cried, throwing himself onto the god. Loki laughed and hugged Tony. He rested his head on the mortal's shoulder, content to stay there all day, until he saw Bruce standing in the corner, watching them.  
"Stark, I am fine." Loki said, his voice clinical, and almost cold, as though it didn't matter that they'd just experienced their own personal natural disaster, and Tony was concerned for his well being. He still despised them all.  
"JARVIS said you'd been-" Tony couldn't bring himself to finish. He didn't seem to remember Bruce was there.  
"It appears that in emergencies, my powers are back to their old selves again. It was fairly easy to remove it and heal myself. Though I am sure I will be almost comatose with pain in the morning." Loki tried to prise Tony off him. It was at that point that Tony remembered Bruce was there. He went bright red and stepped away from Loki, laughing awkwardly.  
"Sorry bout that. I was -urr- in shock." He mumbled, scratching the back of his head, just because he needed to do something.  
"We should go find Thor. See if he needs help." Bruce stated, trying not to laugh, and walked out of the room. As soon as he was gone, Tony threw himself on Tony again, this time attacking Loki's mouth. Loki indulged himself for a second, allowing Tony's tongue to enter his mouth, allowing Tony's hands to grab at his hips and his hair, then he pushed Tony away.  
"Bruce is just around the corner." Loki hissed.  
"I get the feeling you had something to do with this. That explosion. It was you." Tony accused in an angry whisper.  
"I gave us a reason for not being done with the suit. That is all." Loki shrugged, and refused to say any more on the matter.

Aside from the lab, everything was basically intact. And even in the lab, certain things had survived. A cabinet filled with irreplaceable files, folders and notes turned out to be surprisingly resilient. You and Dummy remained unscathed. Two of the Iron Man suits were still in working order, and another one was deemed salvageable (though, surprise surprise, the one Loki and Tony had been 'working on' was not amongst those three). Most of Tony's back up Arc Reactors had made it, along with quite a lot of Tony's science tools and equipment that made everyone zone out as he explained their purposes with the glee of a small child. Sure, they were scorched, covered in soot, and slightly melted, but they survived. Everything else was rubble. Smouldering piles of ash. It was highly suprising that the walls had stayed up. Once Thor's arm had been tended to, they all scoped out the lab, trying to figure out the cause of the explosion. But, luckily for Loki, the CCTV cameras had been totally obliterated and any footage they might have once captured was gone forever.  
"You know guys, I bet I know what happened. I was messing around with the suit before, and I think I left it on auto pilot. It could have sensed something, logged it as a threat, and fired a missile." Tony shrugged. After consideration and more senseless searching through the blackened scraps of metal and chunks of plastic, the weary Avengers were willing to accept that admittedly weak story.

"Are you a sociopath?!" Tony demanded. Loki stared at him for a few seconds, trying to decide whether sarcasm would calm him down or make him angrier.  
"I've been called it a few times. Never really sought out a professional opinion, but I suppose it's possible. Why?" He asked with a smile. Tony sighed in exasperated.  
"You are impossible! Rather than come up with a convincing lie, you blow up my lab? What the hell do you think you're playing at?" Tony groaned, half wanting an explanation, half just wanting Loki to understand what he'd done wrong.  
"Well, I do love blowing things up. I have rather an affinity with pyrotechnics, especially when magic is involved. But, no, in all seriousness, you went to rather extreme lengths to hide the nature of our, for want of a better word, relationship, so I went to even extremer lengths to show you how ridiculous you seem." Loki flashed Tony a tight smile, then looked away, as if he had better things to be doing that talking to Tony and he wanted it over with as soon as possible.  
"Are you saying you did this to punish me for not telling them about whats been going on? Because Loki, I didn't think it was worth telling. I honestly didn't think we were really, you know, dating. I thought we were just fooling around." Tony looked up at Loki, trying to gauge what the God of Mischief was going to say to this. When he said nothing, Tony felt compelled to carry on.  
"Loki, did you want us to be in an actual relationship?" He asked carefully. Loki laughed.  
"Of course not. That would be absurd. And I was kidding, you know. I only blew up the lab because I've been having super villan withdrawal symptoms. I need to do something evil every now and again or I get cranky." Loki shrugged. Tony knew he was making it up, but he didn't care. He much prefered this explanation to the other one.  
"Oh really? Well next time can you not blow up my lab? Dye Steve's hair pink or something." Tony sighed.  
"Got it. No more explosives. JARVIS, add peroxide to the shopping list." Loki grinned.


	12. Chapter 12

Go back and read chapter 11 again. I added a few extra paragraphs that didn't really fit into this chapter...Okay? Done that? Cool. Oh, also, you get to find out why the story is called this. I own nothing except the voices in my head and самоубийство (the idea, not the word). Have fun

* * *

The Avengers were gathered in a room, celebrating the fact that, after another two months of fighting crime and all the evil the world had to throw at them, they were all still alive. Everyone was laughing, talking, and making a half-hearted effort to dance to the deafeningly loud music. And with all the chaos and complete dysfunction that went along with living in the Stark Tower, it was sort of nice to just be regular people for once. Despite Tony's pleading, Loki had decided to sit it out. He'd claimed he'd rather read than be amongst the others.  
"Peter Pettigrew's appearance on the Map is incredibly confusing and I'd like to figure it out, once and for all." He had shrugged as he retreated. In all honesty, it was really that only two people wanted him to be there, and of those two, Loki wanted one of them dead. So, it was a Trickster free room, into which Natasha gleefully watched two SHIELD agents cart two crates of vodka bottles. Everyone else eyed it wearily and silently, saving their questions for until the agents were gone. When they were, the Avengers all turned on Natasha.  
"Look, Tash, I love drinking as much as the next guy, but when you have to get government agents to import it secretly... Well then maybe we have a problem here?" Tony asked.  
"Why did it have to be imported secretly?" Bryce asked.  
"It's called самоубийство. The name translates as Suicide, because so many people have died drinking it. It's for experienced drinkers only. It's illegal in eighteen different states, and bars make you sign a contract before drinking, making sure you understand how much of a risk it is. You have no idea how rare it is to be ABLE to get so much at any given time. Trust me. You guys will like it." She smiled, prized a crate open, and pulled out a bottle. Everyone else backed away slightly, watching her with weary eyes as she poured out a large glass, and drank it in one. They all sighed with relief when she didnt drop dead after thirty seconds or so, and they went back to their beers and slices of pizza.  
"You people are such children." Natasha goaded as she poured herself another drink. Tony raised an eyebrow skeptically.  
"We're children because we won't drink what is basically diluted poison?" He demanded.  
"Basically." Natasha nodded.  
"Oh it is so on!" Tony growled, reaching for a bottle of his own.  
"I will not be out drunk by mere mortals. Volstagg will never let me live it down." Thor didn't seem to realise that his friends in Asgard wouldn't know if he didn't tell them. Tony smirked over his glass at his competitors. Steve and Clint stepped back, happy to watch the other Avengers completely obliterate their minds in a senseless drinking match. Bruce watched uneasily. He'd been dubbed the metaphorical "designated driver". He'd been the one who wasn't allowed to drink, just in case Fury called and needed some of them to fight some threat from beyond the stars. Since Steve didn't usually drink much anyway, he wouldn't be going in alone, but still, he'd rather that the back up (should it be needed) wasn't either passed out, or vomiting uncontrollably when he called for it. Still, it's not like that stopped Thor, Tony and Natasha from downing bottle after bottle of the deadly transparent liquid.

Hours later, the only thing keeping Tony up was the grip he had on the counter. What with Natasha being used to the stuff, and Thor being a God, they had both found it relitivly easy to drink. But Tony hadn't fared so well and he was seconds away from collapsing. Bruce had tried to steer him away from the alcohol at earlier times, but Tony had blatantly refused many times (and with increasingly explicative language), so Bruce just gave up.  
"For the love of the Nine, it is two in the morning. Can you people please at least turn down the music, if you aren't going to stop partying?" Loki growled, rubbing his eyes as he walked in. He was wearing pajamas pants and an XL vest top, but that was just for effect. He hadn't really been trying to rest ; he'd been up reading for the past few hours and was nowhere near ready for sleep, but he'd decided that they'd celebrated long enough and anything more was just milking it. Then he spotted Tony. Half unconscious, barely able to support himself, clearly out of his mind with some form of alcohol. Ignoring the crowd of Avengers that surrounded him, he rushed to Tony's side and looked Tony up and down, trying to see if he'd injured himself.  
"H-hey beautiful." Tony slurred, looking up at Loki with a dazed but affectionate expression. He seemed to miss all of Loki's annoyance and concern; he was just happy that Loki had finally made it.  
"How drunk is he?" Loki half sighed, half growled.  
"I'd say, he's absolutely, completely shitfaced." Clint smirked. Resisting the temptation to use magic to liquify Clint's organs, Loki helped Tony up from the counter and draped one of Tony's arms of his shoulders. He put his over arm around Tony's waist, and managed to keep him in an upright position.  
"I'll take him to his room." Loki puffed as he lugged Tony along with him. Somehow, the last bit of Tony's alertness kicked in, and he started dragging his feet.  
"No Lokiiiiii!" He protested, dragging out Loki's name for as long as he could, "You only just got here. Stay for a while." Tony tried to turn on the puppy eyes. Loki just scoffed.  
"Tony I'm here not for the party. I'm here to take you to your room." He explained. Tony grinned wickedly.  
"So, you're trying to get me into bed?" He smirked, doing his best to seem suave and suggestive, while having little or no control over his actions. Loki smiled and shook his head.  
"Yeah, like he'd need to try." Clint couldn't help but mutter.  
"Excuse me? What are you implying?" Thor was kind of overprotective of Loki, and a little slow when it came to Clint's sarcasm, so he interpreted this jibe at Tony as a slur against Loki.  
"I just meant that, he lets any slut into his bed, it -"  
"Are you calling my brother a slut?" Thor demanded. Loki let out a sigh, but decided to stick around to watch how this would play out. He turned to look at Clint, letting go off Tony and leaning against the bar. Of course, Tony chose that point to pass out, slumping against Loki like a stuffed toy. Loki swore and tried to pick Tony up, then settled for keeping him upright.  
"Well if the boot fits." Clint muttered sullenly, folding his arms across his chest, staring down at the floor.  
"Meaning?" Thor all but growled. Gulping, Clint threw all caution to the wind. Tony wasn't exactly bearing witness to these events, and it's not like he'd be able to remember them the next day, anyway, he was so drunk.  
"Why don't you ask Loki what he and Tony got up to in the lab?" He asked, smiling cruelly at Loki. Loki refused to play his game. He adopted a slightly annoyed expression.  
"As I'm sure I've told you a hundred times before, we've been building a magic repelling shield for the Iron Man suit. Can your inquisition wait until Tony is in his room?" Loki asked sarcastically, using magic to increase his strength, just enough to pick Tony up. As soon as Loki and the unconscious Tony were gone, the Avengers all turned on Clint.


	13. Chapter 13

When Tony awoke in the morning, he had his arms wrapped tight around a sleeping Loki. He didnt remember getting into the bed, but he had a vague recollection of grabbing ahold of Loki's arm, stopping him from leaving, and a hazy memory of pulling the protesting god into the bed. He let go, sleepily kissed the top of Loki's head, then rolled out of bed, and bolted for the toilet. He almost didnt get there in time to stick his head in the bowl before he vomited. His throat burned and tears welled up in his eyes, as he swore to never touch alcohol again (a promise he had made to himself thousands of times before, and even more times to Pepper or Rhodey, and he had never kept it for more than a week.) Shakily, he stood up and made his way to the sink. After rinsing his mouth out several times, he made his way back to the bedroom. Loki was murmuring softly in his sleep, and his fingers were grasping and pawing at the empty bed sheets beside him as if he was searching for Tony. It was sort of cute, though Tony would never tell Loki that. He was supposed to be a feared supervillan. Being dubbed "cute" would not bide well with him. He'd probably turn Tony into a poodle or something, if he told him that. The migrain he'd get from using that much magic would probably convince him to never use magic again, which would leave Tony stuck as a poodle. Hoping that dog food tasted better than it looked, Tony crawled into bed next to Loki.  
"Loki? Loki, wake up~" He said in a sing-song way, shaking Loki slightly as he did it. Loki shot upright, reaching blindly for something he could use as a weapon, then he realised who was in the bed with him. He yawned and smiled sleepily.  
"Hello Tony...Tony, why are you in my room?" He asked.  
"You're in my room, Loki."  
"Oh yes. So I am... Though I recall, it was through no fault of my own." Loki rubbed the palms of his hands together; they had gone a little numb, Tony was hugging him so tightly.  
"Yeah, sorry about that. I was pretty wasted. Speaking of which, what happened after I passed out, anyway?"  
"Clint may have told them all. Not entirely sure. I couldn't get up to check because someone had me pinned down in their sleep. How is it that you are stronger when drunk than when sober?" Loki asked wearily. Tony shrugged in reply.  
"I don't know Loks, but I've got a plan."  
"Oh really? I'm intrigued."  
"Yeah. Basically, showers, clothes, bacon sandwiches with extra ketchup, then we interrogate the others." He said, in the same manner Steve gave out orders in during a battle. Loki rolled his eyes, hit Tony playfully with a pillow and laid down to go back to sleep.

After Loki had been wrenched from the bed, and they were both squeaky clean, dressed appropriately, and curled up on the sofa, eating the breakfast Loki had cooked for them, the rest of the Avengers ambushed them. Or rather, Thor ambushed them, while the other Avengers watched. He approached Tony with a strange look on his face, that Tony hadn't seen before. It promised pain and vengeance, yet it wasn't angry. It was disturbingly calm.  
"Is it true?" He asked softly, his voice dangerously quiet.  
"Is what true?" Tony asked, though he knew exactly what Thor was talking about. Or so he thought.  
"You have been using my brother like a common whore!" Thor roared.  
"I-I'm sorry, what?" Tony spluttered as he tried not to laugh, almost choking on his orange juice. He hadn't been expecting such an over protective brotherly response from Thor.  
"Oh please. If anything, I've been treating Tony like that." Loki smirked. Steve and Clint balked, as Loki began to go into incredibly vivid detail to prove his point.  
"Don't want to know!" Clint declared as he all but ran from the room. Tony clamped a hand over Loki's mouth, trying to contain their fits of laughter.  
"I, on the other hand, do want to know. He's the enemy, Stark. What the hell were you thinking?" Steve folded his arms across his chest, trying to intimidate Tony. A fairly easy task when you considered how big Steve was, and how much he towered over people, especially when they were sat down. Tony decided to level the playing field, so to speak.  
"Well, to be perfectly honest, I was thinking "oh my god, this feels good! Loki -ah- keep going! Loki, oh, right there."" Tony grinned, letting out a fake heated moan. Steve scrunched up his nose in disgust and opened his mouth as if to lecture Tony. Tony took that opportunity to let out another low moan and a string of expertly chosen curses. Steve threw up his hands in admitted defeat, and walked out.  
"Stark, you're an adult, you can date whoever you want. Just, dont try to blame anyone else when Loki slits your throat in your sleep." Natasha smiled as she walked out.  
"I can't sit here and listen to this anymore; the Other Guy might come out." Bruce declared as he got up, finishing the last of his coffee off, "If you need me, I'll be in my room." Thor looked from Loki, who was dangerously gleeful, and Tony, who was oddly amused, trying to decide who he should yell at. In the end, he just threw his arms up in the air, and left, exasperated and in need of something to take his annoyance out on.


	14. Chapter 14

Tony wasn't sure when he had decided that it would be a good idea to try and get the Avengers to get along with Loki. In fact, he had never really decided it was a good idea. Some could argue it was a terrible idea. Clint would never forgive Loki for "remaking him" as he called it, no one knew the lengths Loki would go to to alienate Thor, and Steve still wasn't speaking to either of them. But Natasha seemed fairly open to the idea, and Tony was sure that once Bruce got used to it, he would be too. So why not try and force Loki upon them all? Well, force wasn't really the right word. It wouldn't work if it was a one time thing. It would have to be repetitive. But anyway, there was no time to be pedantic. He had to prepare phase one of his admittedly dumb plan.

"JARVIS, tell everyone that it's game night." Tony ordered as he began to connect the X-Box 360 to the flat screen mounted on his wall. A large stack of games was perched precariously on the table in the corner, and he had just ordered pizzas and brought in beers. A voice crackled over the intercom.  
"Game night? Really, Tony? What, are we all going to play Charades or something?" Clint asked skeptically.  
"Nope. I thought we could have an X-Box game tournament."  
"Oh, okay then. I'll be down in a few."  
"Tony, I'm not a thirteen year old boy. I'm not going to play X-Box with you." Natasha informed him tersely.  
"Oh come on Tasha! You'll love it!" Tony pleaded.  
"I'll think about it." She replied in a tone that implied she had already made up her mind. She would turn up, act like it was all beneath her, then beat everyone on Mario Kart.  
"Tony, I don't even know how to play X-Box." Steve pleaded, wanting to spare himself a night of embarrassment and confusion.  
"We'll teach you."  
"No you wont. You'll film me getting more and more confused then put it on the interwebs."  
"Internet, Steve. It's called the Internet."  
"What is this Box of X's, which you speak of?" Thor's voice boomed over the Intercom, making Tony wince and rub his ears.  
"For the hundredth time Thor, you don't have to shout! And it's sorta hard to explain. Come down and see for yourself."  
"Tony I'm sort of busy cleaning out the last of the confidential stuff out of the lab so that the work men can start rebuilding tomorrow, so I can't really join you guys tonight..." Bruce's voice trailed off, but it was quickly followed by the makeshift noise of things being dropped and pushed around and swept up. A child could have seen through that lie.  
"Bruce, I have CCTV cameras. I know for a fact that you aren't in the lab. Get your ass down here." Tony all but growled. He stood up and turned the TV on.  
"Dammit, what did I do wrong?"  
"This isn't a punishment Bruce. It's supposed to be fun."  
"Yeah, like I'm supposed to believe that."  
"If you don't mind I'll come down and eat now, so I don't have to walk through a room of drunken Avengers playing children's games." Loki's voice purred through the Intercom.  
"Don't be ridiculous Loki, you're playing with us." Tony informed him as he started making an avatar for himself.  
"Oh goodie! I can't wait." Loki's voice was dripping with sarcasm, but Tony was sure that Loki was touched that he was included. Either that or immensely annoyed. Tony's money was on the former, when Loki showed up before anyone else.  
"So. How do you do this?" Loki picked up a controller with uncertain hands. Full of a glee he couldn't quite explain, Tony showed Loki the basic controls then sat next to him and let him figure the rest out for himself on Silent Hill. Tony yawned and leant back, resting against the arm of the sofa, draping his legs over Loki's. He hadn't really slept properly in a while. Any time that anyone had mentioned it, he would just scoff and say that he didn't need sleep. He'd swear earnestly that he was as mechanical as any of the suits he wore, and as long as he had a coffee once every few hours, he'd be fine. Giving in to the urge to close his eyes, he supposed that was not entirely true.

"Tony can you help me with this?" Loki asked gently, after ten minutes of cursing at Pyramid Head. Tony sleepily crawled over to Loki.  
"Alright, what do you need help with?" He asked. Loki said nothing, he simply grunted in frustration, handed over the controller and watched sullenly as Tony maneuvered through the level with ease.  
"Dammit why are you so good at this?" Loki asked, trying to yank the controller back out of Tony's hands. Tony kept playing, even with Loki's cold fingers trying to upheave his.  
"Years of practice."  
"I wouldn't have thought you'd have time. What with running your own company and becoming a superhero and all." Loki muttered, still trying to prise the controller out of Tony's grasp, "You must go nights without sleep, just to practice."  
"I do, actually. But don't tell Pepper, or she'll yell at me for sleeping through that last business meeting."  
"How does she put up with you?"  
"No idea Loks. No idea at all." Tony grinned. A look of terror spread across his face and he shrieked, mindlessly mashing buttons and cursing at the creature that had killed him. Rolling his eyes, Loki let go of the controller. He slid off the sofa, onto the floor, then crawled up under Tony's arms onto his lap. Before Tony could react, Loki started tickling him relentlessly. Tony shrieked and let go of the controller, trying to push Loki off, then Loki grabbed for it. Turning round, he curled up on Tony's lap and resumed playing. Tony swore and resigned himself to being Loki's chair for the rest of the evening. When Loki got to the the boss of that level, and defeated it in one go, he turned to look at Tony, his eyes alight with joy and pride.  
"Look Tony, I did it!" Loki couldn't stop himself from saying. Tony looked down at him and chuckled. Loki blushed a dark red, and that red turned even darker when he realised the rest of the Avengers were standing in the doorway, stifling giggles. The rest of the night passed in a relatively carefree way. Despite Thor's insistence that the Rainbow Road track on Mario Kart was the Bifrost, Steve's flashbacks to WWII interrupting the second round of COD and Natasha being banned from singing after joking she could throttle someone with the Guitar Hero mic wire, it turned out to be a fun night. Phase one complete, Tony thought to himself.


	15. Chapter 15

Yes, phase one was complete, but no one ever found out what phase two was. Because Tony was distracted from his dastardly plan by an unexpected arrival. No one could tell who had placed it there, during the dead of night, so that it was first discovered during breakfast, and no one came forward and admitted to having done it. It stood in the corner of the living room, and towered above everything. It was a very dark green, so dark it was almost black, and was aluminated by twinkling red lights. It was garnished with blood-red and sparkling gold and, sat atop everything, was a star. It was safe to say that the Christmas Tree had arrived. Steve was thrilled. Everyone else were pleased, if slightly apathetic, except for Loki and Thor, who were just plain confused. After watching Steve struggle to explain Christianity to them, (eventually admitting failure when Thor asked why he "hadn't met this so-called Jesus in Asgard") Tony decided to take a different route.

"So every year, he brings presents to all the good boys and girls of the world." Tony finished his lecture on Santa, as Loki stepped forwards and began to carefully examine the tree. Thor and Tony watched him poke at glitter-coated baubles for a while, before Thor got bored and wandered away. Glancing over his shoulder to make sure that Thor was gone, Loki took a strip of tinsel off a branch and he turned it over and over in his hands, as though trying to unlock its secrets, before pulling it off entirely and brandishing it like a whip.  
"I can think of many uses for this, Anthony." He grinned wickedly, with a wink.  
"Careful, Loki. Santa won't bring you anything if you're naughty." Tony smirked, pulling the tinsel off him, and wrapping it back around the tree.  
"I think I'll take that risk." Loki plucked a candy cane up from a higher branch and whacked it against the palm of his other hand. When Tony asked him to explain what he was doing, Loki simply told him that it could make a decent riding crop.  
"Loki stop it." Tony rolled his eyes, "Steve will be mad."  
"You didn't seem to care about Stephen's feelings when you were calling him "Mr. Star Spangled Ass."" Loki pointed out as he reluctantly replaced the candy cane. Tony smirked at the somewhat childish response, and pulled Loki away from the tree. He wrapped his arms around Loki and rested his head against Loki's so their eyes met.  
"It's different if _I_ think it's funny." Tony told him.  
"And why is that, then?" Loki asked, but he never got an answer, as they were interrupted by Pepper demanding they wrap up presents. Loki disentangled his limbs from Tony's so he could turn to glare at her.  
"Don't order me around. I don't even celebrate this tedious holiday, so why should I have to wrap up worthless gifts for people I either hate or haven't made the acquaintance of?" Loki demanded.  
"Come on Loki. It'll be quicker and less painful for everyone if we just get this over with." Tony sighed.  
"But I don't know how." Loki wheedled.  
"It's okay, I'll show you." Tony grinned in a decided wicked fashion. Loki wasn't sure if he trusted it or not.

Half an hour later, Loki decided he definitely did not trust that grin. He was tied up with ribbon, and coated from the neck down with gaudy wrapping paper and sticky tape. His knees were pinned to his chest, and the only reason he sat still was because he feared that if he moved, he would fall onto his back, and be stuck there, like a tortoise, until Tony saw it fit to unwrap him. He sure as Hel couldn't get out of the stuff on his own. The paper could be easily taken care of, but the ribbon was much stronger than it looked, as was the tape. Loki said nothing, he just sat there, glaring at Tony, hoping to instill some kind of fear. Evidently it didn't work. Tony sat opposite him, with a smugly amused look on his face.  
"And that, sweetie, is how you wrap up a christmas present." Tony smirked as he slapped a shiny bow onto the top of Loki's head.  
"I swear, I will kill you in your sleep." Loki practically growled in response. Tony chuckled, and began writing out a tag. The fact that Tony didn't look in the least scared offended Loki, though it helped to know that he was probably the only mortal who could have reacted like this.  
"I'm sure you will, Loki. Just like you killed Thor." Tony all but purred as he taped the tag that read "Merry Christmas Tony, love Tony. Enjoy the present ;)" onto Loki's bow. Loki craned his neck to read it, then shot another glare at Tony.  
"Tony, I don't know if you've noticed, but Thor is immortal. Besides, Hela likes him, so even if he ended up in Niflheim, I'm sure she'd make his stay a pleasant one. It'd be far more effective for me to make his life torture than to kill him." Loki pointed out as he struggled against the ribbon that bound his wrists together. Tony nodded his head to the side and shrugged slightly in a you're-right-but-I-don't-want-to-acknowledge-it kind of gesture.  
"And how has that been working out?" Tony couldn't help but ask.  
"Very well actually. I've convinced Thor that you people hold annual tournaments of strength on Boxing Day. I also told him to keep it to himself that he knows this, so that the others will underestimate him. So, the first thing he will do on Boxing Day is punch someone in the face and if he does it to a total stranger, that might just get him arrested." Loki allowed himself to smirk for just a second, before reverting to the death glare he had been shooting at Tony.  
"I guess they don't call you the God of Mischief for nothing." Tony smirked, then smiled fondly, his expression not showing a hint of disapproval. Maybe he was starting to find Loki's antics funny, maybe he just wanted to see Thor and Steve beat each other up.  
"They don't call me Silvertongue for nothing, either." Loki assured him with a wink. Tony grinned and looked over his shoulder, making sure they were alone.  
"I suppose that would require me to unwrap you, huh?"  
"It would be preferable." Loki did his best to shrug. Tony leant forwards and cut through a large portion of ribbon and paper. Loki tore the rest away and leapt to his feet.  
"Thank you Anthony." He smiled pleasantly, then picked up the roll of paper and swung around, using it like a club to attack the back of Tony's head. Tony shrieked and fell backwards, snatching up wrapped up sweaters to use as tiny missiles. Loki simply batted them to the side and closed in on Tony, who was cowering like a frightened bunny.

When Pepper walked back in to see how they were getting on, Tony was tied up with tinsel, had been gagged with a tie decorated with cartoon reindeer, and Loki had finished wrapping up the last of the presents. He was looking rather pleased with himself. Pepper decided not to ask about Tony, she simply smiled gratefully at Loki.


	16. Chapter 16

Okay, this chapter is a tad scary. But I like it and my beta tester insisted it was fine, (but this could be because she herself is a little crazy and this pales in comparison to what she's used to). So yeah. I'd say that anyone who felt that chapter eight was a bit much, you might want to sit this one out. Or not. It's your call.

* * *

"Well thank the Nine that that's over." Loki mumbled as he pulled down a strip of tinsel that had been hanging over the door. He seemed to be trying to get rid of everything Christmassy as quickly as he could. Tony gave him a side-long look; he was still wearing a fuzzy Santa hat. "What do you mean? The party? I thought you had fun." Tony commented idly.  
"Yes, I did, but Christmas still bothers me. First off, someone brought poisonous Phoradendron into the Tower and hung it randomly about the place, secondly, everyone else was infuriatingly happy and I didn't understand why, thirdly, you lied to me about Santa." Loki pouted.  
"Hey, if you really want, you can get on_ my_ lap and beg for a present. Though it probably won't come wrapped up with a bow." Tony smirked. Loki walked across the room and climbed onto Tony's lap, straddling him.  
"Is that so?" He whispered into Tony's ear as his cold hands snuck under Tony's shirt.  
"Yeah it's so. But we should probably get back to my room. Clint will yell at us if we do it on the sofa again." Tony pointed out.  
"Not my problem." Loki murmured, as he began to suck on Tony's neck. Suppressing a moan, Tony picked Loki up, and staggered to his bedroom, while Loki was still attacking his neck with somewhat of a fervour.

_Loki was awake, but he was still too sleepy to open his eyes, so he simply smiled, and nuzzled closer to Tony, as a way of letting him know._  
_"Morning, gorgeous." He murmured to Tony and then he tried to sit up. When he found he couldn't, his eyes snapped open in fear and he realised he was not in safely tucked under the covers of Tony's warm king sized bed in Midgaurd. He was alone, as far as he could see, tied down to a table, in a dark mountain cave that he wished he could forget. He struggled against his bounds, but to no avail. He tried to use his magic, but before he could, a large beefy hand grabbed his chin so hard he knew it would bruise, and the other hand brought a needle to his lips. Loki tried to yank his head away but the hand was too strong. The needle pierced the skin beneath his lower lip, and was pushed through, dragging the leather cord after it, until Loki's eyes were welling up from pain and he was begging the hand to stop. To stop sewing his lips together. The hand ignored him and repeated the motion on Loki's top lip, and then got quicker. Stab, pull, stab, pull. Soon Loki's pleas became garbled animalistic grunts and howls, mixed with the sickening sound of Loki gargling and choking his own blood. Then he was silenced forever. His wails and sobs got caught in his throat and threatened to suffocate him as he tried to breathe without tearing his lips on the tough leather stitches that bound them. Tears streamed down his face and that was the worst thing. The stitches he could easily remove, but he had let his enemy see just how much he hurt, and just how easy it had been to overpower him. How easy it had been to break him. He would never live this down. He looked up at his attacker, and saw none other than his own children. Hela, the Queen of the dead, a devastatingly beautiful woman from the waist up, a lifeless corpse from the waist down, stepped forwards._  
_"You let Odin banish me to Niflheim!" Hela cried accusingly as she thrust daggers into his arms. Loki howled in pain, the stitches cutting through his skin even more and making him sob. He wished he could say that he hadn't known, and that he would have done anything to try and help if he had. Not to stop his torture but to convince his daughter that he did care about her. But he couldn't, so she walked away without another glance at him, and Fenrir, the colossal wolf, took her place._  
_"You let Odin chain me up in the bowels of the Earth!" Fenrir roared as he ripped Loki's legs to shreds with his mighty claws. Then he too disappeared without a trace, to be replaced by Sliepnir, the eight legged rainbow horse, who stampeded and crushed Loki with his eight hooves, braying that Loki had let Odin imprison him in the stables as if he wasn't even a sentient being. Sliepnir was thrown from standing in the shattered remains of Loki's ribcage by a flick of the tail of the monstrous sea serpent, Jormangandr. Without stating why he was attacking Loki, like the others did, he simply bit down on Loki's head, ripped it from his neck, and threw it high into the air. When it landed, the rest of his body grew back, and his children melted away like wax figures. The puddle that they had formed solidified, and modelled itself into the shape of Odin. Odin ripped his eyes patch off, and Loki stared in horror into the empty eye socket. In amongst the writhing maggots was an emerald green snake. It wormed its way out of the socket then darted at Loki, eyes wild and mouth wide open, its fangs dripping with venom. Before he could react, it was coiled around his neck, forcing every breath out of his body. His hands scrabbled at the cold scaled, but it simply tightened its grip. His vision went hazy and his legs became weak. He wondered if he was going to pass out, when suddenly the snake released him. Collapsing to the ground and taking in as much air as he could in one breath Loki allowed himself a painful smile that made his stitches dig in even more. Whatever was happening was over. He opened his eyes to see the snake looming over him. It moved as though it was going to kiss him, and Loki was so confused, he didn't realise until it was too late that it wasn't going to kiss him, it was going to rip his mouth off. Forcing its way into the gaping hole that was once Loki's mouth, it slithered over his tongue and wriggled down his throat. Its scales caught on the flesh of Loki's throat and ripped the skin. As it went down into his body, it ripped organs out of their rightful places and devoured them whole. It demolished Loki's body from the inside out and Loki felt excruciating pain like he had never felt before. He no longer feared he might die, he had began to hope for it, to wish and beg for death. But it never came. Just as he was considering preying for the end, the snake moved in such a way that made Loki able to reach down his abused, blood soaked throat and rip it out. Lying on the ground, panting and accidentally spitting out blood every other breath, he tried to magically grow back his organs, but he was too weak. He felt a stirring in his chest that he hoped was his heart beginning to beat again, but no. The snake had laid eggs in his heart, and the eggs were hatching. The swarm of baby snakes flooded his body, doing what their mother couldn't, and wriggling up into Loki's skull, where they ate his brain and eyes from the inside out. Despite his body being separated into thousands of pieces, all of which frying in the digestive acids of serpents, Loki still couldn't die. His mind continued living as an entity of pure pain. He gathered all his strength and let out one last scream..._

"Loki! Loki, are you okay? Why are you screaming?" Tony asked as he shook Loki awake. Loki looked up at Tony with large round eyes, unable to voice the terror that his own psyche had just subjected him to. He opened his mouth to try to explain, but instead, he buried his face in Tony' chest, his tears dripping onto the glass case of the Arc Reactor, his tiny sobs causing his entire body to shake. The dumbstruck billionaire put his arms around Loki and held him tight, whispering comforting phrases into his ear, hoping he wasn't making things worse.


	17. Chapter 17

Warmth and protection versus solitude and darkness. It said a lot about Loki that he craved the latter. But the former had its arms wrapped around him and was gently stroking his hair in a comforting way, so it was becoming more and more difficult to justify going back to his own room and sulking in silence. Still, he couldn't believe what he'd just done. Blubbering in front of Tony and clinging to him like a frightened infant. And over what? A bad dream. Granted, it had hurt as if it was really happening, but that was no reason to completely lose it. He really didn't want to be around people at that moment, so, as soon as Tony fell asleep, he slipped out of his grip and let himself out onto the roof. The reasoning that forced him up there seemed foolish but his location actually made sense, if only because he would be able to talk to himself and no one would hear. Loki sat and stared at the soft orange tint the clouds were developing; the sun would rise soon. But he didn't really think about any of this, he was too busy internally sneering at himself for what he had just done.  
"So much for keeping their fear alive." He scoffed out loud.  
"He isn't your enemy. You don't need to "keep the fear alive"." Thor argued, sitting down next to Loki. Loki jumped back. Thor usually couldn't walk anywhere without letting everyone within a radius of five miles know, and it took someone very skilled to sneak up on Loki like that. Something was not right. Still, he felt compelled to answer.  
"He is my enemy. If anything happened, his alliance would be with you and the Avengers, not me."  
"You could make sure that nothing happened."  
"Okay fine, I could. But it doesn't matter that he isn't my enemy. I still don't want him to see me acting so pathetic. I still want him to think of me as the person who almost took over Midgaurd."  
"Why? Are you that scared of losing him that to make the thought hurt less you're persuading yourself he is still your enemy?" Thor asked. That was when Loki knew for a fact that something was wrong. Thor would never read into something so trivial. He saved what little intelligence he had for planning battles and organising attacks.  
"You aren't Thor." Loki accused. The Not-Thor ignored his protest, and just looked at him with a penetrating gaze.  
"Or perhaps, you know that something will happen. You don't want him to let his guard down because you know that you cannot be controlled, and you know that sooner or later you will kill him." The Not Thor prophesied with a mocking(almost gloating, really) tone.  
"Why would you care one way or the other?" Loki asked, gliding up onto his feet and pacing around slightly, hoping he looked like he was just stretching his tired legs, when really, he was checking to see if the Not-Thor was armed. It didn't look like it was, but if it was trained in magic, Loki would have next to no chances, if it turned to a fight.  
"If I'm perfectly honest, it's because I just love to watch you wallow in misery and self loathing." The Not-Thor's voice took on a feminine tint. Magical disguises usually had a time limit on them before they needed renewing, and Loki wondered if he could keep the Not-Thor talking long enough to find out who it was. Still, that wasn't all he was thinking. He was mostly thinking about the pain that came from cutting open his palms by clenching his fists so tightly. He just wanted to rip the Not-Thor's head off.  
"Well, the odds are in your favour. I'm almost an entire entity of self loathing and misery." Loki shrugged as he paced back around and sat down next to the Not-Thor. Not-Thor nodded, and smirked.  
"Oh, so old Silvertongue is capable of telling the truth. I never knew." The Not-Thor pretended to marvel at this in a sarcastic manner. Loki decided he couldn't handle it anymore. He reached out and punched the Not-Thor in the face. Not-Thor disappeared in a puff of smoke just before impact, sending Loki sprawling through where he had been. His abdomen smacked into the ground, leaving his head and torso dangling over the edge. He would have fallen, had it not been for a quick burst of shield magic. He hovered into an upright position then let himself fall back onto the roof, a few yards away from the edge. He brushed himself off, and looked around. He couldn't see anyone. There wasn't the usual static-y feeling in the air that occurred when magic had been at work, so it couldn't have been that someone had disguised themselves as Thor and teleported away when he tried to punch them. Of course, with his diminished power, he might not have been able to detect it.  
"JARVIS," Loki asked with a shaky voice, "Who was up here just now?"  
"No one, Mr Laufeyson. You have been alone the whole time." The AI replied in its usual British tone.  
"Who was I talking to just now, then?" Loki demanded.  
"Yourself, Mr Laufeyson. Unless you were referring to me." The AI replied in a sarcastic tone. Loki rolled his eyes. He knew he was insane, he was the first to admit it, still, the hallucinations were few and far between. He never expected them to come, and he never got over the fact that he couldn't trust his own eyes and ears. Letting out a tired sigh, he walked back inside, ready to curl up beside Tony, no longer caring what anyone thought of him. Once he was inside, the Not-Thor reappeared, perched daintily on the giant T of the STARK sign. The disguise melted away to reveal a devastatingly beautiful girl in a medieval style dress. Flame red hair, streaked with smokey black, fell to her hips and bordered her pale face. Anger burned bright in her oh so familiar emerald-green eyes, and a cruel smile spread across her lips. She surveyed the city, mapping everything out in her mind, taking note of Midguardians and their attire. Within seconds, she had a plan to slowly drive Loki out of his mind.  
"I think I shall enjoy this." She smirked to herself, before disappearing once more.


	18. Chapter 18

Hope you guys had a happy new year! Let's kick off 2013 with a chapter that consists mostly of everyone's favorite mischief god being tortured.

* * *

It never occurred to Loki to tell Tony what happened. He wasn't going to tell Tony about the dream, so why would he mention a tiny hallucination? He didn't really think much of it, even though it had almost caused him to fall from the top of STARK Tower. A few days after, he could scarcely remember it, which in itself was odd, but Loki wrote it down to the fact that he'd been half asleep at the time. So when he began to loose his mind, he didn't think the hallucination was connected. It began with simple things like memory loss. He'd be in a room, with no memory of how he got there or what he was doing. Usually it was nothing harmless, and in a room he had every right to be in. But once or twice, well...

Pain seared through his arm as the blade sliced through the skin, taking more effort than she had anticipated. The pain made him instinctively want to pull away, to escape the knife, but he stayed, because he had no choice. It sliced in different patterns and directions. Blood trickled from the slits, and ran down his arm, pooling at the inside of his elbow before splattering to the floor, slowly, drop by drop. He didn't cry out, he didn't make any noise, because he simply wasn't in enough control of his body to do so. His eyes weren't closed but he couldn't see what was going on. He could only feel it. He felt the handle of a knife being pressed into the palm of his other hand, and his fingers curled around it so it didn't fall. He was guided to a counter top, and he grasped it with his abused arm, flinching at the pain that the movement caused, but still staying nothing.  
"Hey Lokes... Loki? What are you doing?" Tony's uneasy voice broke Loki from his spell. He blinked and looked around, eyes bleary. He was in the kitchen, leaning against the counter and for the life of him, he couldn't remember how he got there or what he was doing there. He turned to greet Tony, and Tony backed away, his eyes wide with horror. Loki frowned, confused, then let out a gasp at the seemingly sudden pain that hit him out of nowhere. His legs gave way underneath him and the knife went skidding across the floor, leaving a trail of his blood in its wake. He clutched his arm to his chest and his shirt quickly became red and sodden with blood. His skin had been reduced to a rags and everything hurt. His eyes filled with tears and he quickly closed them, not wanting Tony to see. Arms encircled him, and he was gently pulled to his feet. Keeping his eyes closed, he was lead to the sink, his wounded arm held out in front of him. Cold water ran across his arm and the pain subsided slightly. The bleeding slowed and bandages were wrapped around his arm. He was pulled away from the sink and turned. His head was gently tilted upwards, and Loki got the message. He opened his eyes, and met Tony's gaze. His soft brown eyes, usually glinting defiantly to match his cocky smirk, were full of concern.  
"L-Loki." Tony seemed to be having a hard time speaking. He cleared his throat and started again.  
"Loki, why would you do that?" He asked quietly.  
"What are you talking about? I didn't." Loki was telling the truth, or at least, he thought he was. He didn't remember doing that to himself, and he had never done so before in his life.  
"Loki don't lie to me. I saw you holding the knife." Tony's tone remained gentle. Despite this, Loki started to get angry. All he knew was that he hadn't sliced up his arm. But he didn't know who had, why they had, or how they had done something like that without his knowing, and Tony accusing him of doing it to himself was only preventing him from finding this out. He pushed his anger aside to try and reason with Tony.  
"Tony, believe me. Please. I did not do this. I don't know who did. All I know is some one is messing with my head." His voice cracked and his eyes threatened to tear up again.  
"...I'll check the CCTV, okay?" Tony eventually sighed. Loki smiled in thanks and let Tony give him a reassuring hug.

A short while later, they were in the newly remodelled lab, looking at all the CCTV footage on the computer. Tony had been skeptical, but the fear and confusion on Loki's face had been real, he was sure of it. And something about self harming was so un-Loki-like that he just couldn't picture Loki doing it. When you added in the fact that Loki seemed to have had almost a delayed reaction to his arm being sliced open, it was obvious that something was not right.  
"Hm. That's odd. The footage of the kitchen is gone. See, there's a few hours ago, and there's the stream of it live. But there's nothing between the two, it just stops. What were you doing before being in the kitchen?" Tony asked. Loki thought back, and told Tony he'd been in his room.  
"Loki, you broke the camera in your room a while ago. So that helps no one." Tony sighed, exasperated.  
"But I would have had to walk from my room to the kitchen." Loki pointed out. This was true, but every single camera from Loki's room to the kitchen had experienced some sort of black out, so that neither Loki, nor his attacker, appeared on the screen.  
"JARVIS, how did this happen?" Tony asked.  
"I do not know sir. My systems have been compromised by some form of magic." JARVIS told him. Loki's eyes widened. He had a rather long list of enemies, but the fact that this one had magic narrowed it down quite a bit. Even though every Asgardian was born with the natural ability to do magic, very few chose to develop that ability to any great extent. He began to rewrite his list, on magical ability alone. There was Amora, the Enchantress, and Dr Doom, the mortal who occasionally dabbled in sorcery, and - Tony's questioning distracted him.  
"Magic? Was it anything like Loki's magic?" Tony asked.  
"It _was_ Loki's magic." The AI replied. Tony turned on Loki, arms folded across his chest, anger evident on his face.


	19. Chapter 19

"You used magic to hack into my systems?!" Tony demanded. Angry didn't even begin to describe what he was feeling. He was outraged, and he felt betrayed and lied to, and... He wanted to be able to trust Loki and when he'd seen Loki with that knife in his hand, he'd just wanted to help him, but he couldn't do either of those things if Loki kept lying to him.  
"No of course I didn't. Anyway, how would JARVIS even be able to tell my magic from anyone else's?" Loki asked coolly.  
"How about because he's been monitoring your magic for weeks?" Tony spat back.  
"Yes, but he's never seen anyone elses. He wouldn't know what aspects vary, and what stay the same. Besides, if he had been hacked into, then how can we trust anything he says?" Loki pointed out. Tony knew that this reasoning was flawless and in all honesty, that made him even angrier. They were his systems that had been hacked into, it was his AI that couldn't be trusted. It was like his _children_ were lying to him for the very first time.  
"How can I trust anything you say?! You're the freaking God of Lies! Oh and apparently, someone's been messing with your head." Tony took on a sarcastic tone. He'd stopped believing that as soon as JARVIS had detected Loki's magic on his systems.  
"I am not the God of Lies; I'm the God of Mischeif. And someone _is_ messing with me. I'm losing memories, and I -"  
"Loki," Tony cut him short. All the anger was gone from his voice, replaced with weariness and concern, "Loki I'm just trying to help. Talk to me, please, and tell me the truth."  
"Tony, I am telling the truth! And you insisting that I'm not is the furthest thing from helping me!" Loki finally snapped and yelled. He stormed out of the room, and slammed the door behind him.

"Okay, Loki has officially gone insane." Tony declared to the rest of the Avengers. Aside from Thor, they all had a general air of apathy; they didn't even bother to look up at him.  
"Oh, and when he tried to take over the world he was what exactly?" Clint asked skeptically.  
"He was insane. I meant, he's gone more insane. He's insanier than ever." Tony tried to explain.  
"Why what has he done now?" Natasha asked in a bored fashion.  
"I found him in the kitchen self harming. With the biggest carving knife we own."  
"That doesn't seem like him. That guy is "self preserving" personified." Steve noted.  
"That's the thing that makes it so extra-strength crazy. Even though he knows I saw him, he swears that it wasn't him. He told me he thinks someone is messing with his head. He said that someone with magic is removing his memories and controlling his thoughts." Tony sighed in exhausted and collapsed into a chair.  
"Perhaps someone is. It wouldn't be far-fetched to assume that someone like Loki has a lot of powerful enemies. With his powers so low now, it could be seen as a good opportunity to get revenge." Bruce pointed out.  
"He does have enemies. There is a reason Loki turned so quickly to sorcery. It's because he needed defending against those his antics angered, and he felt that hand to hand combat was beneath him." Thor supplied, in a tone so helpful it was obvious he didn't understand what "self-harming" was. Tony suppressed the urge to retort about the time Loki had tossed him out of a window, and mulled over what Thor was saying.  
"So you guys are saying I should believe Silvertongue over JARVIS?"  
"Maybe." Bruce shrugged. Tony opened his mouth to reply before closing it just as Pepper walked in. She was stabbing a plastic chopstick into her messy bun and rubbing away a smear of lipstick, whilst she tried to not drop the stack of papers in her arms. She reached the table, dropped all the papers onto it, and quickly did up the button that she had only just realised was undone.  
"Pepper you're late. I wouldn't mention it but you're never late. Ever. Even when you're sick... Were you at a funeral?"  
"What? No. Why would I be at a funeral?" She asked absent-mindedly, as she checked, as best she could, to see if her clothes were now in order.  
"Well, Pep, usually people go to funerals when a close friend, acquaintance or family member has died. But I don't know, you could be planning to bring the dead guy back to life with some sort of voodoo curse, and you went to the funeral to make note of family members you could use as a blood sacrifice." Tony shrugged. Ignoring the confused and disturbed sidelong glances that came from the other Avengers, he got up and started to read through a couple of the documents.  
"I thought with you as CEO you didn't have to run this stuff by me anymore?" Tony asked.  
"Well, with most of it, we don't. This is just the extra important stuff." Pepper replied, before leaving as quickly as she had come in.  
"Blood sacrifice with a voodoo curse? I swear man, you spend too much time with Loki. His weirdness is rubbing off on you." Clint laughed.  
"That's not the only thing that rubs off on me when I'm with Loki." Tony replied automatically with a smirk.

It was the general opinion of all those in the Tower that something suspicious was going on, but ultimately, Loki was probably responsible for it. Steve that thought it was a bit odd that someone as secretive as Loki did something like that in the kitchen. It was as if he had wanted to be discovered. After "self-harming" (and the pool of blood in the kitchen) was explained to Thor, he was appalled, and refused to leave Loki's side for more than a half hour at a time, for fear it could happen again. Even after Loki started threatening him bodily harm, Thor stuck to his side. Only when Tony ordered him to, for both their safety, did he leave Loki alone.


	20. Chapter 20

Three days after the knife incident, Loki was awoken by the sounds of distant screaming and sirens blaring. JARVIS's damage report was struggling to be heard over the sound of helicopters flying nearby and rapid gunfire. An earth-shaking roar, similar to that of a dragon's could be heard, and though Loki would really prefer to not find out why there was a dragon in Midgaurd, he knew that Tony would be called into battle, so he was going to try to lend a hand. He laid there, meditating, gathering his powers until a small cough disrupted his train of thought, and he cracked open an eye to see the barrel of a gun staring down at him, mere inches away from his face. He opened both of his eyes and wearily registered Natasha Romanoff standing in his room in full battle gear, aiming a gun at him. A weary Captain America was stood in the doorway, his blue red and white suit coated in what appeared to be soot and blood. Loki let out a sigh then closed his eyes again. He knew he was to be blamed. There was nothing he could do to stop that. He only hoped Tony was alright.  
"Just ten more minutes." He mumbled to Natasha, before being yanked out of the bed by his neck.

"Oh, Director, we have to stop meeting like this." Loki smiled broadly, in a welcoming fashion, as Nick Fury stepped into the interrogation room. He shot Loki a one-eyed glare, then flipped open a file. He took out a photograph of a demon, and tossed it down onto the table in front of Loki.  
"Recognise this?" Nick Fury asked. Loki peered at the photo. It was a winged four legged beast, covered in black matted fur that stopped at the shoulder blades, so the wings were made purely of bone. It's huge tail curled protectively around its body, serving as a shield and easily swatting away attacks. Sharp, blood-splattered fangs protruded from the bottom jaw of it's snout and it appeared to have a car door stuck in between two of them.  
"No. Why?" Loki looked up, batting eyelashes over big, innocent doe eyes.  
"Why is a good question. Like why did you release a heard of these on New York?"  
"Why do you think it was me?" Loki asked calmly, making a point of not struggling against the handcuffs that bound him to his chair. He had a reputation of not being easily intimidated, and if he didn't show fear when he was locked in a glass coffin thirty thousand feet above an ocean, he wasn't going to when he was in a regular cell.  
"Well lets see. We found a flock of these demons roaming the skies of New York, setting fire to buildings and causing mayhem as they saw fit. Thor recognised them, and said they could have only come from Asgardian wilderness. Either you or him brought them here, and we tossed a coin. Thor got lucky." Nick Fury glared down at him.  
"I don't suppose it would be too much to ask for the best of three?" Loki asked coldly. Nick Fury slammed his hands down on the table. Loki didn't flinch.  
"How did you get your powers back?!" Nick demanded.  
"I didn't." Loki told him. They seemed to be having a staring contest, both trying to unnerve the other.  
"I wonder why I don't believe that." Nick pretended to muse.  
"Look. I know how to prove it wasn't me. Stark has been making notes on my magic for a while. He has my particular energy signature recorded. If you examine the beasts, you will find an entirely different signature on them." Loki smirked at his own intelligence.  
"Yeah, that would work. Unfortunately, Stark's lab went up in flames a while back. He doesn't have that information any more." Nick smirked back. Loki's heart sunk but he was careful not to show it.  
"I request my lone telephone call."

"This is insanity! It can't have been him. You haven't seen him after he uses magic. He gets irritable and bitchy, and it physically hurts him. After he saved Clint, he just laid in bed, he was too exhausted and in too much pain to do anything else. If he had created or summoned a flock of demons, he'd be unconscious right now." Tony protested. He was arguing with Steve to let him talk to Fury. He normally wouldn't bother with this sort of thing, but the SHIELD agents who were blocking the door were armed and he wasn't getting past them unless he did.  
"If it wasn't him, then who else was it?" Steve asked.  
"Yeah, as if we don't have a prison full of insane evil sorcerers. It could have been anyone. Do you even have any grounds for arresting Loki? What has he done that's so damn suspicious?" Tony asked, crossing his arms over his chest in a commanding fashion.  
"The beasts came from Asgard."  
"That's it? That's the only thing that makes you think it was him? That's pathetic. Loki isn't really even from Asgard. He's from Jotunheim." Tony mentally gave himself a gold star for not zoning out during Loki's angst filled rantings.  
"Please, Rodgers, it would have been impossible for anyone to have summoned the beasts without Heimdall knowing. If you let Loki go free just long enough for me to confer with him, then I could easily find out the culprit." Thor asked.  
"Why would we need to let Loki go for you to leave?"  
"Because Odin decreed that I shouldn't leave without him. It would be an offense to him if I did so." Thor explained. Steve nodded.  
"Makes sense. Look, I can't let you just take Loki. It goes against all -"  
"I'll go with them." Tony cut in, "They would have to bring me back at some point, and I'd make sure he brought Loki with me when he did."  
So after several minutes of arguing, Steve finally relented and decided to help them talk to Fury. On the way there, Tony's phone rung. The number was withheld.  
"Call back later." Tony snapped into it, but before he could disconnect the call, Loki spoke up.  
"Stark. It's Loki." He was unusually cold and formal. Tony sensed that Fury was in the room. He decided to try and help Loki relax, in his own special way.  
"Oh, hey sugar. What are you wearing?" Tony asked in a voice dripping with sex. It was his way of telling Loki that everything was going to be okay. He wouldn't joke if it wasn't. Actually, he probably would. But not like this.  
"Anthony this is serious business. I've been arrested." Loki growled. He'd gotten the point entirely, but that didn't change the fact that it annoyed him.  
"I know you have. Are you in handcuffs? You know, we haven't tried that yet. I mean, the blindfold was fun and all, but -" Tony teased in the same leering voice, having to stop talking to stifle a giggle at the sight of Steve's face.  
"That never happened. Pray that you are wearing the suit when I next see you. You may lose an extremity if you aren't. Where are you anyway?" Loki asked in an irritable fashion.  
"I'm on my way to find you. If Thor gets his way, we'll be taking you back to Asgard to gather evidence." Tony's attitude suddenly morphed into something confident and almost eager. Despite the circumstances, he was actually really excited. Going to Asgard was something he'd wanted to do for a while.  
" ...Odin would not allow it. Neither would the dear Director here." Tony sensed that Loki was sending a flirtatious smile Fury's way and smirked. He really was a bad influence on Loki.  
"Odin wouldn't allow you to be arrested for something you didn't do, either. Get your things together, babes... Leave the handcuffs on."


	21. Chapter 21

Okay so first off guys, I'm sorry for the wait. But I think this chapter was worth it. Hope you enjoy it. Oh, and a prize goes to the lucky boy or girl who can guess whats going on by the next chapter.

* * *

To put it lightly, Asgard was beautiful. From the Bifrost, it looked a little like Camelot had been scooped up, dipped in molten gold and silver, and put down in the middle of space. But the buildings looked like they belonged there, as if they had always been there, and always would. They almost looked natural, as if they had been grown from seeds, rather than forged with brick and metal. As they paced along, and the glowing city loomed ever closer, Tony gasped in sheer amazement. Tony spent the first five minutes just staring in awe, acting like, well, a tourist, but then his scientific brain kicked in, and he glanced around with a critical gaze, as though he was trying to take deconstruct everything with his eyes alone. He was rather glad that Loki had insisted that he wear the suit, because the face plate hid his dorky expression from the gods that were walking either side of him. Loki pulled his hand from Tony's and slid it around the smaller man's waist, pulling him closer. Tony realised he must have been holding it tight since the journey. And God, what a journey. He had expected it to be like a flight in the suit, but it was nothing like that. It was like an invisible hand grasping his heart and dragging him across space. But Loki and Thor didn't so much as let out a whimper, let alone the reluctant screams that Tony did, so he supposed you could theoretically get used to it. And the view alone was worth the experience. Galaxies and constellations whizzing past at an impossible speed Tony could only dream of mastering, no matter how much he adjusted the suit.

Tony knelt down on one knee, and bowed his head respectfully. Well, not so much out of respect for Odin. More fear, at the millenia old God that was looking at him with the disdain one might offer, say, a cockroach. With Loki and Thor at either side of him, bowing their heads in the same way, he felt less embarrassed to be down on one knee than if he'd been alone. But still. If he hadn't been terrified of that one eyed immortal glare, he would have just laughed when Loki hissed "kneel" in his ear, and tugged on his hand. Especially with the eyes of half the population of Asgard on his back.  
"Tony Stark, at your service." He said, with his cocky trademark grin, as he got to his feet. Odin descended the steps to his throne, and Tony held his hand out. Odin shook it, with a cast iron grip that quite possibly broke a few carpal bones, even through the suit.  
"You are the first mortal to ever set foot in Asgard. What is your reason for trespassing these halls?" Odin asked. Tony ran through the list of instructions Loki had given him before he answered. ("Firstly, _don't_ be yourself. Be respectful and concise. Secondly, don't give him a stupid nickname. And don't make fun of the eyepatch either. I know what you're like with Fury. Thirdly, do not, under any circumstances, mention the nature of our relationship.")  
"Someone unleashed a herd of monsters that looked weirdly like a cross between werewolves and Krillitene onto New York. Thor said that they came from this Realm. We thought you might know who it was." Tony explained. A general murmur of concern ran through the crowd of Asgardians, that was quickly silenced with a single look from Odin.  
"Why would it be any concern of mine?" Odin asked, and Tony's heart sunk.  
"Besides the fact that there's an evil sorcerer out there who can summon demons to his will and could turn on you like he did with us... hmm I don't know. Because I asked nicely?" Tony asked sarcastically. Thor decided to step in before Tony made things worse.  
"Father, the mortals have wrongly accused Loki. You know as well as anyone that he would not have enough power to do this, but SHIELD does not see it like this. If we find the true culprit, they would have no choice but to acknowledge his innocence." Thor pleaded. Odin seemed to consider this.  
"I have not had word of any sorcerer with ill feelings towards Midgaurd powerful enough to commit such an act. The sorcerer is of Midgaurdian origin, I assure you." He said, meaning to dismiss them.  
"With all respect father, we had not heard of the Chitauri either. Doesn't mean they didn't have ill feelings towards Midgaurd." Thor challenged. Odin turned back to them. That had clearly piqued his interest. Or his contempt.  
"Actually big guy, they were more interested in the Tesseract than Earth... wait. You know that could be it. Maybe this guy wasn't interested in taking over Earth at all." Tony's eyes widened as something occurred to him.  
"Upon what are you basing this assumption, mortal?"  
"Well, there were some pretty weird things about the attack. For one, it went on for about three hours, and there were zero fatalities. That's plenty enough time for someone to get killed or mortally wounded. But the beastie boys didn't go near any humans. They were more into setting fires and destroying buildings."  
"It's true. Whatever this sorcerer's plans are, killing mortals and gaining control of Midgaurd is not amongst them." Thor added.  
"Then what could have been gained from this?" Odin asked.  
"Notoriety? Fear? It could have just been a demonstration of power." Loki suggested.  
"Nah, if it was that, they would have revealed themselves in some way." Tony pointed out.  
"Not necessarily. The enemy you know is better than the one you don't. They may have their reasons for staying anonymous." Loki shrugged.  
"Maybe it was a diversion?" Thor suggested, ignoring Loki.  
"From what exactly?" Tony asked.  
"We are getting nowhere. Look, what were the direct consequences of this attack?" Odin decided to try and add some sort of direction to the so-far rambling discussion.  
"Uh, about a third of New York is on fire. I got to test out my new repulsor. Fury and the gang are pissed at Asgard. Loki was arrested. And t-the shawarma place got blown up." Tony sounded almost on the verge of tears at the last one. Loki rolled his eyes.  
"Tony, grown ups are talking. You're welcome to join us at any time."  
"Oh sweetheart, I thought you liked it better when I used my mouth for ... other things." Tony winked, glad that he'd taken the face plate off so that he could see Loki blush and look away. Tony took the opportunity to lean back slightly and check out Loki's ass in the leather pants he wore with his battle armour.  
"That's not relevant." Loki stammered slightly, and Tony had to cover his mouth with his hand to hide the smirk that was forming.  
"You're right darling. So, what do you think this guy's motive was?"  
"I do not know. Perhaps my imprisonment was his goal. I do have a lot of powerful enemies."  
"Oh really? I never knew. So who have you pissed of this time?" Tony turned from sarcastic to weary in a second, looking up at Loki with an almost bored expression.  
"I do not know. But it cannot be someone that you would class as a "bad guy" if they took such great care to avoid the deaths of humans."  
"Or perhaps, it was simply that the deaths of humans would result in more work for them." Odin suggested with a pointed look at Loki. Loki's face paled.  
"More work? What? You annoyed an undertaker?" Tony smirked.  
"Oh no, nothing like that. I annoyed the Queen of the Dead."  
"What?! How do you annoy the Queen of the Dead?" Tony demanded, eyes wide.  
"You be her father."

Hela was stood at a window in a high rise apartment building, looking at her work with a proud smirk. Flames danced across the horizon, from crumbling building to crumbling building. Smoke rose in wisps, tainting the otherwise perfect orangey pink sunrise. It had been unbelievably difficult to ensure that no humans were harmed, but it was worth it, simply so that if she was found out, she had done no real crime. She turned away from the window, and walked across the room, loving the feel of the fluffy carpet against her bare feet. (A few weeks ago, such a sensation would have shocked her, but she had grown used to the enchantment that had given her flesh and made her appear human.) The sofa was practically unused, like all the furniture in her lover's apartment. It made it seem a little less personal, but neither of them had any qualms about that. She let herself drop onto it, laid down and pulled her knees up to her chest, hugging her legs, while she battled internally with guilt. Normally, she wouldn't let such trivial affairs effect her judgement, but with spending so much time amongst humans, she was beginning to pick up on their habits. Mainly, listening to her conscience. It was annoying, but she supposed that the rewards outweighed the consequence. The rewards being the cute young lady standing in the doorway. Though she'd probably earn some sort of punishment if she called her cute. Or a reward. Hela unfurled herself, and her lover joined her on the sofa. She wrapped her arms around Hela's neck and their lips met. Surprised, Hela pulled away. Her love looked up and raised a quizzical eyebrow.  
"Wait. Have I not angered you?" Hela asked hesitantly.  
"I heard the SHIELD report. No human casualties. So... you're off the hook. I mean, I hate Loki too."  
"And you don't care that you're the one I stole all this information from? Where Loki was staying and how best to infiltrate." Hela asked.  
"Oh, come on, give me some credit. I planned that one. I've been able to look insane murderers in the eyes and not snap; I wasn't going to give you everything you needed by accident now was I?"  
"So you understood? You understood who I was, and what I was planning?" Hela asked, still totally confused.  
"From the very beginning, sweetheart." Their lips met again and this time, Hela didn't pull away.


End file.
